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YICTOMandTMANIj 

ANTHONY^TROLLOP; 


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CHARLES     LEVER'S    WORKS.} 


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Pri«>A  fis.  Ti«r  Volume,  demy  8vo.  Cloth. 


11      VlUXJUXLJ-l 


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The  collected  Works  of  Charles  Lever  in  a  Uniform  Series 
must,  like  the  Novels  of  Scott,  Bulwer,  Dickens,  Thackeray,  and 
Anthony  Trollope,  find  a  place  on  the  shelves  of  every  well-selected 
library.  No  modern  productions  of  fiction  have  gained  a  greater 
reputation  for  their  writer  :  few  authors  equal  him  in  the  humour  and 
spirit  of  his  delineations  of  character,  and  none  surpass  him  for  lively 
descriptive  power  and  never-flagging  story. 


London  :  CHAPMAN  &  HALL,  193,  Piccadilly. 


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53 

isDanes  j-ever. 
55  Constable  of  the  Tower 

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6 1    Jealous  Wife  Miss  Par  doe- 

Si   Hunchback  of  Notre  Dame 

Victor  Hugo. 
65   Lord  Mayor  of-London 

IV.  H.  Aim-worth.. 

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90  Giulio  Malatesta 

91  Wildflower 


T.  A.  Trollofe. 
F.  IV.  Robinson. 


9-2  Irish  Stories  and  Legends 

Samuel  Lover. 
93   The  Kellys  and  the  O'Kellys 

Anthony  Trollope. 


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VOL. 

94  Married  Beneath  Him 

Author  of "  Found  Dead." 

95  Tales  of  All  Countries 

A.  Trollofe. 

96  Castle  Richmond 

Anthony  Trollofe. 
9S  John  Law       W.  H.  Ainsworth. 

104  Under  the  Spell 

F  M''.  Robinson. 
106  Slaves  of  the  Ring 

F.  W.  Robinson, 
no  Emilia  Wyndham 

Mrs.    Marsh   Caldwell. 
Ill   One  and  Twenty 

F.  IV.  Robinson. 

1 13  Woodleigh        F  W.  Robinson. 

114  Theo  Leigh         Annie  Thomas. 

1 1 7  Flying  Scud  C.  C.  Clarke, 

1 18  Denis  Donne      Annie  Thomas. 

119  Forlorn  Hope     Edmund  Tates. 

121  Ned  Locksley,  the  Etonian 

122  Miss  Mackenzie 

Anthony  Trollofe. 

123  Carry's  Confession 

Author  of  "Mat  tie:  a  Stray." 

125  Belton  Estate    Anthony  Trollofe. 

126  Land  at  Last      Edmund  Tates. 

128  Crumbs   from    a   Sportsman's 

Table  C.  C.  Clarke. 

129  Bella  Donna  Percy  Fitzgerald. 

131  Christie's  Faith 

Author  of  "Mat tie:  a  Stray." 

132  Polly  Percy  Fitzgerald. 

133  Seventy  Five  Brooke  Street 

Percy  Fitzgerald. 

134  Called  to  Account 

Annie  Thomas. 

135  A  Golden  Heart       Ton.  Hood. 

136  Second  Mrs.  Tillotson 

Percy  Fitzgerald. 

137  Never  Forgotten 

Percy  Fitzgerald. 


VOL. 

138  Clyffardsof  Clyffe 

F.  W.  Robinson. 

139  Which  is  the  Winner? 

Charles  Clarke. 

140  Archie  Lovell 

Mrs.  Edivardes. 

141  Lizzie  Lorton  Mrs.  Linton. 

142  Milly's  Hero  F   TV.  Robinson. 

143  Leo  Dutton  Cook. 

144  Uncle  Silas  J.  S.  Lefanu. 

145  Bar  Sinister  C.  A.  Collins. 

151  Family  Scapegrace 

James  Payn. 
153   Fair  Carew  ;  or,  Husbands  and 
Wives. 

156  Pique  A.  Beaufort. 

157  Lord  Falconberg's  Heir 

C.  C.  Clarke. 

159  Secret  Dispatch   James  Grant. 

1 60  Guy  Deverell 

Author  of  "  Uncle  Silas." 

161  Carr  of  Carriyon 

Hamilton  Aide'. 

162  All  in  the  Dark 

J.  S.  Lefanu. 

165  Mansfield  Park    Jane  Austen. 

166  Northanger  Abbey 

Jane  Austen. 

168  Beauclercs,  Father  and  Son 

C.  C.  Clarke. 

169  House  by  the  Churchyard 

J.  S.  Lefanu. 

170  Owen  :   a  Waif 

Author  of  "  Mattie  :  a  Stray." 

171  Two  Marriages 

Author  of  "John  Halifax." 

172  Found  Dead  Author  of 

'■'Lost  Sir  Massingbcrd." 

173  O.  V   H. ;  or,  How  Mr.  Blake 

became  an  M.  F.  H. 

Wat.  Bradwod. 


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180  A  House  of  Cards 

/lfi-j.  Cartel  Hoey. 

183  Tuggs'sat  Ramsgate,  and  other 

Stories  Char: a  Dickens,  and 
other  Popular  AuMors. 

184  Chips  from  an  Old  Block 

Charles  Clarke. 

190  A  London  Romance 

Charles  Ross. 

191  A  County  Family 

Author  of"  Found  Dead." 

192  An     Editor's    Tales  :       Mary 

Gre.ley       Anthony  Trollope. 

193  Rent    in    a    Cloud    and    St. 
Patrick's  Eve      Charles  Lever. 

194  Gwendoline's  Harvest 

Author  of  "  Found  Dead:' 


195  Geoffry  Hamlvn 

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196  Ravenshoe         Henry  K'mgsley 


Henry  Kingslcy. 


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197  Hillyars  and  Burtons 

Henry  K'mgsley. 

198  Silcote  of  Silcotes 

Henry  Kingsley. 

199  Leighton  Court 

Henry  K'mgsley. 

200  Austin  Elliot     Henry  K'mgsley. 

201  Like  Father,  Like  Son 
Author  of  "  Gwendoline' s  Harvest:' 

204  Semi-Attached  Couple 

Lady  Eden. 

205  Semi-Detached  House 

Lady  Eden. 

206  Woman's  Devotion 

Author   of  "  Margaret   and 
Her  Bridesmaids. " 

2CJ   Box  for  the  Season  I 

Author  of  "Charlie  ThorrML"        \ 


VOL. 

208  Buried  in  the  Deep 

Mrs.  Cashcllhcy. 

209  Fashionable  Life 

Mrs.  Trolh J  e. 

215   Madeleine       Julia  Kav.magh. 

224  Two  Hundred  Pounds  Reward 
Author  of  "Lost  Sir  Massingbcrd." 

226  Not  Wooed,  but  Won 
Author  of  "Lost  Sir  Ma'.s'tngbcrJ." 

227  That  Boy  of  Noicott's 

Charles  Levr. 

229  Cornelius  O'Dowd 

Charles  Lever. 

230  Bernard  Marsh 

G.  P-  R.  James. 
232  Morley  Court 

Author  of  "  Uncle  Silas." 

234  A  Passion  in  Tatters 

Annie  Thomas. 

235  The  Old  Maid's  Secret 

E.  Mar/eft. 

236  Ensemble  Author  of  "O.^.H." 

237  Woman's  Vengeance 
Author  of  "Married  Beneath  Him:'' 

238  CeciFs  Tryst 

Author  of  "Lost  Sir  Massingbcrd:' 

239  Hawksview  Ilclme  Lee. 

240  Gilbert  Massengcr    llo/tin  Lee. 

241  Thorney  Hall  Holme  Lee. 

242  La  Vendee       Anthony  Trollope. 

244  Lady  Anna    Anthony  Trollope. 

245  St.  Aubyns  of  St.  Aubyn 

Author  of  "  Charley  Nu   .•«/.'' 

266   Two  Widows      Annie  Th'.mas. 

26S   '"He  Cometh  N..r,'  She  S.iiJ" 
Annie  l'l',n:as. 


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lS  ChailesO'Mallev  Charles  Lever. 
20  The  Daltons  Charles  Lever. 

23  Knight  of  Gwynne 

Charles  Lever. 
25  Dodd  Family  Abroad 

Charles  Lever. 
28   Tom  Burke  Charles  Lever. 

30  Davenport  Dunn  Charles  Lever. 
33  Roland  Cashel  Charles  Lever. 
42  Martins  of  Cro' Martin 

Charles  Lever. 
48  Sir  Jasper  Carew  Charles  Lever. 
54  Maurice  Tiernay  Charles  Lever. 
85  Doctor  Thorne  Anthony  Trollope. 
87  Lindisfarn  Chase 

T.  A.  Trollope. 
100  The  Bertrams  AnthonyTrollope. 


116   Orley  Farm     Anthony  Trollope. 
120  Can  you  Forgive  Her? 

Anthony  Trollope. 

186  Phineas  Finn 

Anthony  Trollope. 

187  He  Knew  He  Was  Right 

Anthony  Trollope. 
203  Ralph  the  He\rAnthonyTrol/ope. 
211  Sir  Brook  Fossbrooke 

Charles  Lever. 
2 1 3  Bramleighs  Charles  Lever. 
225  Tony  Butler  Charles  Lever. 
228  Lord  Kilgobbin  Charles  Lever. 
231   Charley  Nugent 

Author  of  "St. AubynsofSt.Auhyn." 
243  Eustace  Diamonds 

Anthony  Trollope. 
267  Phineas  Redux 

Anthony  Trollope. 


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VOL. 

246  Confidences 

Author  of  "  C«/-r  o/"  Carrlyon" 

247  Counterparts 

Author  of  "  Charles  Auchester." 

248  Ciueles"t  Wrong  of  All 

Author  of  "  Margaret." 

249  Lost  and  Won 

Georg'tana  M.  Craik. 

250  My  First  Season 

Author  of  "  Counterparts." 

251  Nuts  and  Nutcrackers 

Charles  Lever, 

252  A  Simple  Woman 

Author  of  "  Nut  Brown  Maids." 

253  Skirmishing 

/fc^--  0/""  CWm  &<•//«." 

254  Who  Breaks  Pays 

Author  of"  Skirmishing.'" 

255  Nanette  and  Her  Lovers 

Talbot  Gwynne. 


VOL. 

256  Florence  Templar 

Mrs.  F.  tndal. 

257  Adrian    L'Estrange  ;    or, 

Moulded  Out  of  Faults. 

258  Winifred's  Wooing 

Georgiana  M.  Craik. 

259  Grey's  Court 

Edited  by  Lady  Chatterton, 

260  Over  the  Cliffs  Mrs.  Chanter. 

261  On  the  Line 

Bracebridge  Hemyng. 

262  Tales  of  the  Trains 

Charles  Lever, 

263  Race  for  a  Wife 

Hawley   Smart. 

264  Paul  Goslett's  Confessions 

Charles  Lever. 

265  An  Ocean  Waif  G.  M.  Fenn. 


London  :     CHAPMAN     AND     HALL,     193     Piccadilly. 

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VICTORIA  AND  TASMANIA. 


VICTORIA  AND 
TASMANIA. 


BY 

ANTHONY   TROLLOPE, 

AUTHOR   OF 

"SOUTH   AUSTRALIA  AND   WESTERN   AUSTRALIA," 

"  NEW  SOUTH  WALES  AND   QUEENSLAND," 

"  NEW  ZEALAND." 


NEW     EDITION. 


LONDON : 
CHAPMAN  AND    HALL,    193,  PICCADILLY. 

1875. 


CONTENTS. 


VICTORIA. 


CHAP. 

I.    SEPARATION       . 
II.   EARLY  HISTORY  OF  PORT  PHILLIP 

III.  MELBOURNE       .  ... 

IV.  BALLAARAT  

V.   BENDIGO  OR  SANDHURST 

VI.   GIPPSLAND,   WALHALLA,   AND  WOODS  POINT 
VII.    LAND 

VIII.  LADIES  AND   GENTLEMEN 
IX.   NEWSPAPERS,   BOOKS,   RAILWAYS,     ROADS,   TOWNS; 
WINES 
X.    LEGISLATURE,   GOVERNMENT,    AND   COMMERCE 


AND 


PAGE 

3 

12 
29 

43 
52 
62 

73 
89 

105 
116 


TASMANIA. 

I.    EARLY  HISTORY  .  .  .  .  12  7 

II.   PORT  ARTHUR  142 

III.  HER  PRESENT  CONDITION 1 54 

IV.  FUTURE  PROSPECTS  ....  169 

APPENDIX l8l 

INDEX  o 194 


VICTORIA. 


VICTORIA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SEPARATION. 

I  propose  in  this  chapter  to  say  a  few  words  as  to  the 
treatment  which  the  Australian  colonies  generally  have 
received  and  are  receiving  from  the  mother  country.  In 
the  next  I  will  endeavour  to  trace  very  shortly  the  early 
history  of  the  most  populous  and  most  important  in  the 
group,  and  in  doing  so  1  will  take  my  facts  from  a  pamphlet 
lately  published  by  Mr.  G.  W  Rusden,  of  Melbourne ; — ■ 
than  whom  I  have  found  no  one  better  informed  on  the 
affairs  of  Australia  generally,  and  whose  information,  con- 
veyed in  a  small  compass,  is  the  latest  that  has  been  given 
to  us, — bearing  date  September,  1871. 

It  may  perhaps  be  right  that  I  should  state  that  Mr. 
Rusden's  pamphlet  is  dedicated  to  myself,  lest  they  who 
are  disposed  to  think  that  I  am  here  repaying  one  compli- 
ment by  another  may  claim  to  have  "found  me  out"  should 
they  ever  happen  to  have  the  two  books  in  their  hands  at 
the  same  time.  I  find  it  also  convenient  to  allude  to  the 
circumstance,  in  order  that  I  may  take  this  occasion  of 
expressing  an  opinion  as  to  the  future  destiny  of  our 
Australian  colonies,  which  is  specially  evoked  by  a  certain 
passage  in  Mr.  Rusden's  dedication.  He,  a  colonist,  seems 
to  regard  the  colonies  as  an  element  in  England's  future 
glory, — to  look  upon  Victoria,  for  instance,  as  one  of  the 
gems  by  which  that  glory  is  to  be  maintained  and  consum- 


4  VICTORIA. 

mated.  I,  on  the  other  hand,  who  am  an  Englishman,  look 
upon  the  colonies  as  an  element,  and  a  very  material 
element,  in  the  future  happiness  of  Englishmen, — or  of  men 
and  women  of  English  origin, — thinking  that  England's 
glory  should  be  left  altogether  out  of  the  question  in  any 
consideration  of  the  matter.  Mr.  Rusden  speaks  of  the 
revolt  of  the  American  colonies  having  been  brought  about 
by  the  "  wicked  folly  of  Grenville  and  North,"  as  though 
the  effects  of  that  revolt  were  still  to  be  deplored,  and 
implies  that  any  act  tending  to  the  separation  of  the  Austra- 
lian colonies  from  the  mother  country  would  be  tainted 
with  the  same  folly  and  partake  of  the  same  wickedness. 
It  is  most  remarkable  that  this  should  be  the  aspect  in 
which  the  future  of  these  Australian  colonies  is  regarded  by 
all  the  best  minds  among  the  colonists.  One  hardly  meets 
with  an  exception  among  educated  men  of  British  origin. 
The  few  of  this  class  who  entertain  feelings  and  opinions  of 
an  opposite  tendency  are  generally  Irishmen,  whose  immi- 
gration has  been  of  a  comparatively  late  date. 

I  hope  that  I  am  not  myself  dead  to  England's  glory.  I 
am  indeed  well  aware  that  my  own  feeling  on  the  matter — 
my  own  belief  in  my  own  country's  pre-excellence — is  so 
near  to  self-praise,  that  it  should  be  checked  rather  than 
enforced.  But  I  cannot  believe  that  the  homes  of  millions 
of  human  beings  around  the  world  are  to  be  made  subject 
to  any  special  form  of  government,  or  that  their  mode  of 
living  is  to  be  regulated  in  any  special  fashion,  because  such 
may  be  the  form  of  government  and  such  the  fashion  of 
living  adopted  by  the  country  from  which  those  millions 
have  sprung,  and  whose  language  those  millions  speak. 
This  form  of  government  and  this  fashion  of  living  may  be 
the  best  the  world  has  yet  known.  I,  with  my  English 
idiosyncrasies,  do  believe  that  they  are  so.  I  believe  further, 
— that  we  at  home,  with  the  honest,  high-spirited,  high- 
handed, blundering  philanthropy  which  is  peculiar  to  us, 
have,  in  spite  of  all  the  abuse  which  we  have  lavished  upon 
ourselves  in  the  matter,  done  nearly  the  best  that  we  could 
have  done  with  these  colonies.  But  not  on  that  account 
can  I  bring  myself  to  look  forward  to  their  being  kept  as 


b^ 


SEPARATION.  5 

"  in  England's  "  diadem."  As  long  as  the  national 
prosperity  of  the  colonies  can  be  advanced  by  their  de- 
pendence on  England,  that  dependence  England  is  bound, 
both  morally  and  politically,  to  maintain.  When  the  time 
shall  come  in  which  the  colonies  can  serve  themselves 
bettet  by  separation  than  by  prolonged  adherence,  England, 
I  think,  should  let  them  go.  The  difficulty  will  consist  in 
fixing  the  time ; — but  this  question  of  time  is  one  which 
must  be  solved  mainly  by  the  colonies  themselves.  It  will 
be  for  them  to  declare,  as  it  was  for  the  United  States, 
when  that  time  shall  have  come.  It  will  be  for  us  to  take 
care  that,  when  the  time  does  come,  the  work  of  separation 
may  be  effected,  not  only  without  hostility,  but  without 
acerbating  roughness. 

"  Here  is  a  continent  secured,"  says  Mr.  Rusden,  "  as 
never  was  continent  secured  by  the  genius  of  one  man,  for 
his  countrymen  to  occupy."  The  one  man  is  Mr.  Pitt,  to 
whose  policy  and  firmness  in  opposing  the  attempts  which 
were  being  made  at  the  same  time  and  with  the  same  object 
by  the  French  government  Mr.  Rusden  attributes  the  final 
acquisition  by  England  of  Australia.  "  On  the  soil  of  Victoria 
there  stand  between  seven  and  eight  hundred  thousand 
persons  where  twenty  years  ago  there  stood  some  seventy 
thousand.  Thus  fresh  from  their  native  land,  are  they  not 
bone  of  their  bone  and  flesh  of  their  flesh  to  all  living 
Englishmen  as  fully  as  if  they  still  stood  on  English  soil  ? 
Must  it  not  be  the  shabbiest  of  statesmanship  either  in 
England  or  in  the  colony  which  would  fret  away  the  ties 
that  bind  the  one  to  the  other  ?  " 

Of  course  it  is  matter  of  pride  to  us  Englishmen  that 
there  should  be  so  many  of  our  people  in  Victoria, — and 
matter  of  higher  pride  that  there  should  be  some  forty 
millions  speaking  our  language,  and  living  almost  entirely 
by  our  laws,  and  in  accordance  with  our  fashions,  on  the 
continent  of  North  America.  We  may  probably  take  the 
language  spoken  as  the  truest  indicatii  n  of  the  influence  of 
nationality  and  the  justest  source  of  i:a:ional  pride.  From 
our  little  island  we  have  sent  forth  a  people  speaking 
English  who  are  spreading  themselves  over  all  the  world. 


6  VICTORIA. 

It  is  a  much  greater  boast  than  that  of  ruling  dependencies 
on  which  the  sun  never  sets.  Though  none  of  the  English- 
speaking  nations  on  the  farther  side  of  the  globe  should  any- 
longer  acknowledge  themselves  to  be  dependent  on  Eng- 
land, it  would  matter  nothing  to  the  happiness  of  the  race, 
and  nothing  to  the  true  glory  of  the  nationality, — so  long  as 
the  numbers  increased,  and  the  material  prosperity  of  those 
numbers.  We  are  very  proud  of  Victoria, — very  proud  of 
having  colonised  a  country  rich  in  gold  and  rich  in  flocks, 
and  fitted  by  nature  not  only  to  support  but  to  maintain 
and  to  increase  the  energy  which  is  the  gift  of  our  race. 
We  hope  that  the  seven  or  eight  hundred  thousand  may,  as 
years  run  on,  be  quickly  raised  to  millions.  That  they 
should  have  increased  so  rapidly,  and  been  so  prosperous  in 
their  increase,  is  to  all  of  us  a  matter  of  self-congratulation. 
Though  individually  we  at  home  may  be  less  conversant 
than  we  ought  with  the  details  of  Australian  affairs,  we  keep  a 
sufficiently  accurate  record  in  our  minds  of  her  rising  condi- 
tion among  the  communities  of  the  world.  We  know  that 
the  Australians  are  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh,  as 
fully  as  though  they  still  stood  on  English  soil.  And  we  know 
the  same  of  the  Americans  of  the  United  States, — in  spite 
of  the  "Alabama"  and  indirect  claims  ;  in  spite  of  rows 
about  the  "Trent ;"  in  spite  of  existing  political  differences ; 
in  spite  of  hostilities,  should  there  be  hostilities  j  and  in 
spite  even  of  war,  should  there  be  war.  The  grandchildren 
of  our  grandfathers  are  living  there  in  prosperity  and 
freedom,  worshipping  the  God  whom  we  worship,  speaking 
the  language  which  we  speak,  obeying  the  laws  which  we 
obey,  and  animated  by  that  resolve  to  rule  themselves,  and 
to  be  free  from  the  rule  of  individuals,  which  they  took 
from  our  shores,  and  which  is  as  strong  with  us  as  it  is  with 
them. 

I  deny,  therefore,  altogether  the  shabbiness  of  the  states- 
manship, whether  in  England  or  in  the  colonies,  which 
would, — not  fret  away,- — but  gradually  dissolve  the  ties 
which  bind  the  one  to  the  other.  Such  statesmanship, — 
when  it  exists,  for  as  yet  I  am  not  aware  that  it  has  existed, 
— may  be  wrong,  may  be  premature,  may  be  one-sided,  may 


SEPARATION.  ■/ 

indeed  possibly  be  shabby.  Of  what  matter  open  to  states- 
manship may  not  the  same  be  said  ?  But  to  declare  that 
the  statesmanship  must  be  shabby  that  shall  have  the  object 
of  allowing  the  colonies  to  start  themselves  as  a  separate 
people  at  some  future  time,  is  to  pronounce  an  opinion, — 
that  indeed  may  be  excused  by  the  warm  love  of  country 
which  it  indicates, — but  which  can  never  stand  an  argu- 
ment. 

I  am  not  aware  that  any  British  statesman  has  as  yet 
entertained  the  idea  of  dividing  the  mother  country  from 
her  Australian  colonies, — has  ever  thought  that  the  time  has 
now  come  in  which  he  himself  might  go  to  work  and 
arrange  the  terms  of  separation.  But  I  imagine  that  no 
British  statesman  ever  employs  himself  in  the  affairs  of 
these  colonies  without  a  conviction  that,  in  all  that  he  does, 
he  should  have  before  his  eyes  the  fact  that  separation  will 
come  at  some  future  day.  It  is  impossible  that  any  states- 
man, or  any  speculator,  that  any  philosopher  should  foresee 
the  time.  It  must  depend  on  the  increasing  wealth  and 
the  increasing  population  of  the  country.  Any  invention 
— if  such  invention  be  within  the  bounds  of  natural  possi- 
bility— which  should  save  the  wheat  crops  of  the  South 
Australian  colonies  from  the  disease  called  Red  Rust, 
would  greatly  accelerate  separation,  because  it  would  at 
once  increase  the  population  and  the  wealth  of  the  colonies. 
Iron  has  been  found,  but  iron  mines  have  never  yet  been 
properly  worked.  If  this  could  be  done  to  any  great  extent, 
it  would  accelerate  separation.  Increased  supplies  of  copper 
and  gold  will  do  so  ;— the  finding  of  tin  will  do  so  ; — success 
in  making  sugar  will  do  so ; — and  the  exportation  of  fresh 
uncooked  meat  to  Europe,  when  such  exportation  becomes 
practicable,  will  do  so  very  materially.  Does  anybody 
believe  that  a  population  of  twenty  millions  in  Australia 
would  remain  subject  to  a  population  of  forty  millions  in 
the  British  Isles?  And  the  former  numbers  maybe  reached 
as  quickly  as  the  latter. 

There  is  very  much  to  be  done  before  the  question  of 
separation  can  be  regarded  as  one  that  is  imminent,  or  fit 
for  the  immediate  manipulations  of  statesmanship.     Aus- 


8  VICTORIA. 

tralia  must  be  one  whole  before  she  can  settle  herself  and 
take  a  place  among  the  nations.  There  must  be  some 
federation  of  the  different  colonies  before  separation  can  be 
considered.  The  states  must  bind  themselves  together  with 
the  united  object  of  making  themselves  a  nation,  and  the 
men  who  now  pride  themselves  on  being  Victorians,  or 
South  Australians,  or  Queenslanders,  must  learn  to  pride 
themselves  on  being  Australians.  At  present  they  are  very 
far  from  entertaining  any  such  pride.  The  inhabitant  of 
Melbourne  thinks  himself  to  be  very  much  higher  than  the 
inhabitant  of  Sydney,  and  looks  down  from  a  great  eminence 
upon  the  Tasmanian.  In  New  South  Wales  there  is  a 
desire  to  maintain  the  distance  between  itself  and  Victoria, 
■ — as  though  a  gulf  between  the  two,  which  could  not  be 
passed,  would  be  for  its  good.  Queensland,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  New  South  Wales,  has  but  little  respect  for  her 
parent.  South  Australia  thinks  herself  better  than  her 
neighbours  because  she  has  never  received  a  convict. 
There  is,  no  doubt,  something  of  similar  jealousy  between 
different  groups  of  states  in  the  American  Union ; — but 
there  they  have  learned  the  strength  of  union  and  have  pre- 
served it.  As  Australia  becomes  older,  and  as  the  number 
of  her  leading  children  who  are  Australian-born  becomes 
greater,  as  the  tendency  to  lean  upon  the  mother  country 
becomes  slighter,  the  feeling  for  the  newer  patriotism  will 
grow  up  ;  and  with  the  feeling  of  Australian  pride  will  grow 
the  conviction  that  Australia,  to  be  great  and  strong,  should 
be  one. 

The  first  step  towards  federation  will  be  the  union  of  the 
colonies  for  purposes  of  general  taxation.  At  present  the 
two  great  sources  of  public  revenue  are  the  customs  duties 
and  the  sale  and  lease  of  public  lands.  Let  the  union  be  as 
close  as  it  may,  the  use  of  the  public  lands  will  probably 
remain  in  each  colony, — to  be  applied  as  may  best  suit  its 
own  wants, — but  the  customs  duties,  from  which  by  far  the 
greater  proportion  of  the  public  revenue  is  derived,  may,  and 
no  doubt  will,  be  collected  under  one  tariff,  by  one  arrange- 
ment, for  the  joint  purposes  of  the  whole  group.  At  present 
these  colonies  all  stand  towards  each  odier  as  though  they 


SEPARATION.  9 

were  various  nations,  with  varied  interests,  and  endea- 
vour each  to  rise  on  the  commercial  injuries  inflicted 
on  the  others  by  hostile  tariffs.  They  charge  duties  on 
each  other's  produce,  and  are  towards  each  other  as 
were  England  and  France  before  Mr.  Cobden  had  made 
his  treaty.  I  do  not  purpose  here  to  fight  the  battle  of 
the  border  duties, — but  here,  and  again  hereafter,  I  must 
repeat  the  opinion,  expressed  by  me  in  speaking  of  the  other 
colonies,  that  at  the  present  moment  the  creation  of  a  cus- 
toms union  should  be  the  first  duty  of  any  statesman  to 
whom  the  interests  and  well-being  of  the  colonies  may  be 
entrusted. 

I  look  first  to  a  customs  union,  then  to  federation,  and 
then  after  some  interval, — the  duration  of  which  I  will  not 
attempt  to  indicate, — to  Separation  and  Self-control.  In  this 
idea  as  to  the  future  of  the  colonies  I  cannot  think  that  I  am 
guilty  of  any  shabbiness  as  an  Englishman.  And  yet  the 
expression  of  the  accusation  in  Australia  is  by  no  means 
confined  to  the  gentlerr.au  whose  words  I  have  quoted.  Had 
it  been  so, — had  I  not  found  it  general  among  those  whom 
I  describe  as  possessing  the  best  minds  in  the  colonies, — I 
should  probably  have  contented  myself  in  endeavouring  to 
defend  myself  from  the  charge  with  the  eager  arguments  to 
which  private  intercourse  is  open.  But  I  have  heard  on  all 
sides  accusations  of  the  littleness  of  EngLad, — and  worse 
than  littleness,  of  the  weakness  and  infanticide  of  which 
England  is  guilty,  in  her  desire  to  repudiate  and  put  away 
from  her  her  own  children.  I  have  heard  it  in  details  and 
in  generals.  England  will  not  pay  for  this  statue,  or  sub- 
scribe for  that  building ;  she  will  not  give  cannons  and 
cannon-balls  gratis ;  she  has  not  left  the  vestige  of  a  com- 
pany of  soldiers  in  any  one  of  the  colonies  ;  she  charges  a 
price  for  whatever  she  supplies,  and  does  not  always  supply 
the  best  articles  ;  when  asked  for  selected  emigrants  she 
selects  the  dregs  of  the  workhouses.  There  are  these  and  a 
hundred  other  details  which  show  the  heart  of  a  stepmother 
rather  than  of  a  parent.  But  the  great  general  accusation  is 
stronger  still.  Her  statesmen — or  at  least  some  of  the  chief 
among   them — have  declared  their  opinion  that  the  links 


io  VICTORIA. 

should  be  broken  which  bind  Australia  to  the  mother  country. 
In  regard  to  the  details  the  answer  is  easy  enough.  The 
daughter  has  had  her  dowry  given  to  her, — and  should  now 
pay  her  own  way,  and  is  able  to  do  so.  It  often  seems  to 
be  forgotten,  in  the  colonies,  that  British  statesmen  cannot 
give  away  English  property  out  of  their  own  munificence. 
The  colonies  have  agreed,  with  willingness,  to  certain  terms, 
which  certainly  for  them  have  not  been  unprofitable,  and 
should  not  now  ask  for  further  small  gifts.  When  our  boys 
and  girls  are  young  we  expect  them  to  assail  us  for  half- 
crowns,  and  rather  like  putting  our  hands  in  our  pockets, 
even  when  we  affect  to  rebuke  the  frequency  of  the  solicita- 
tion ;  but  when  our  girls  are  married  and  have  had  their 
fortunes,  or  when  our  sons  have  been  set  up  in  business  by 
considerable  self-sacrifice  on  the  part  of  us  their  fathers, 
we  do  not  like  then  to  be  told  that  we  ought  to  pay  for 
new  carpets  or  cases  of  champagne.  As  to  that  general  ac- 
cusation, I  think  it  is  founded  not  on  any  words  spoken 
or  acts  done  tending  to  immediate  Separation,  but  on 
words  and  acts  preparatory  to  Separation  when  it  shall 
come. 

The  mistake  I  think  is  in  this, — that  the  colonists  allow 
themselves  to  believe  that  the  mother  country  is  repudiating 
them  because  the  statesmen  want  to  save  themselves  trouble, 
and  because  her  people  desire  to  avoid  expense  ; — whereas  at 
home  we  feel,  not  a  wish  to  repudiate  the  colonies,  but  a  con- 
viction that  after  awhile  they  will  repudiate  us,  and  that  we  are 
bound  by  our  duty  to  them  and  to  ourselves  to  be  ready  for  the 
time  when  that  repudiation  shall  come.  We  are  called  upon 
to  rule  them, — as  far  as  we  do  rule  them, — not  for  our  glory, 
but  for  their  happiness.  If  we  keep  them,  we  should  keep 
them, — not  because  they  add  prestige  to  the  name  of  Great 
Britain,  not  because  they  are  gems  in  our  diadem,  not  in  order 
that  we  may  boast  that  the  sun  never  sets  on  ourdependen- 
cies,  but  because  by  keeping  them  we  may  best  assist  them  in 
developing  their  own  resources.  And  when  we  part  with 
them,  as  part  with  them  we  shall,  let  us  do  so  with  neither 
smothered  jealousy  nor  open  hostility,  but  with  a  proud  feel- 
ing that  we  are  sending  a  son  out  into  the  world  able  to  take 


SEPARATION.  11 

his  place  among  men.  That  is  the  halcyon  view  which  I 
entertain  of  the  closing  days  of  the  connection  between  Eng- 
land and  Australia  ;  and  I  think  that  it  is  one  which  is 
tainted  with  no  shabbiness,  and  which  should  make  me  sub- 
ject to  no  reproof  from  any  colonist. 


CHAPTER  II. 

EARLY   HISTORY   OF   PORT   PHILLIP. 

"The  Discovery,  Survey,  and  Settlement  of  Port  Phillip,"  is 
the  name  of  the  pamphlet  to  which  I  have  alluded,  and  to 
which  I  shall  mainly  trust  for  the  facts  to  be  stated  in  this 
chapter.  In  the  lines  which  I  shall  quote  between  inverted 
commas  in  the  early  part  of  this  chapter,  the  reader  will 
understand  that  I  am  quoting  the  words  of  the  author,  Mr. 
Rusden. 

In  the  year  1802,  fourteen  years  after  the  first  actual 
occupation  by  the  English  of  New  South  Wales,  the  inland 
sea  which  we  now  know  as  Port  Phillip  was  first  discovered 
by  Lieutenant  Murray,  who  had  come  out  from  England 
under  Captain  Grant  in  "The  Nelson"  with  the  special 
object  of  prosecuting  Australian  discoveries.  The  name  was 
given  by  Captain  King,  the  then  governor  of  New  South 
Wales,  in  honour  of  Colonel  Phillip,  the  first  governor. 
Captain  Flinders,  who,  in  regard  to  this  period  of  Australian 
discovery,  is  Mr.  Rusden's  great  hero,  followed  Lieutenant 
Murray  after  an  interval  of  ten  weeks.  The  French,  in  their 
exploration  of  the  southern  coast  of  New  Holland,  conducted 
by  Captain  Baudin,  had  sailed  past  the  narrow  entrance  of 
Port  Phillip  without  noticing  it,  and  had  called  the  whole 
region  in  those  parts  Terre  Napoleon.  Indeed  they  after- 
wards gave  an  appellation  of  their  own  to  the  harbour,  but 
did  not  subsequently  attempt  to  establish  it.  Captain  Flin- 
ders, whose  name  is  now  perhaps  better  known  from  the 
street  in  Melbourne  which  bears  it  than  from  the  deeds 
which  he  did  and  the  sufferings  which  he  bore  in  these  dis- 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  PORT  PHILLIP.  13 

coveries,  is  the  first  who  has  left  ns  any  record  of  his  having 
landed  on  the  country  which  we  now  call  Victoria.  "  At 
day  dawn," — -says  Captain  Flinders,  as  reported  by  Mr. 
Rusden, — "  I  set  off  with  three  of  the  boat's  crew  for  the 
highest  part  of  the  back  hills,  called  Station  Peak.  Our  way 
was  over  a  low  plain  where  the  water  appeared  frequently  to 
lodge ;  it  was  covered  with  small-bladed  grass,  but  almost 
destitute  of  wood,  and  the  soil  was  clayey  and  shallow.  I  left 
the  ship's  name  on  a  scroll  of  paper  deposited  on  a  small 
pile  of  stones  upon  the  top  of  the  peak;  and  at  three  in 
the  afternoon, — 1st  May  (1802), — reached  the  tent  much 
fatigued,  having  walked  more  than  twenty  miles  without 
finding  a  drop  of  water.  No  runs  of  fresh  water  were  seen 
in  my  excursion  ;  but  Mr.  Charles  Grimes,  surveyor-general 
of  New  South  Wales,  afterwards  found  several,  and  in  par- 
ticular a  small  river  falling  into  the  northern  head  of  the 
port."  This  small  river  was  the  Yarra  Yarra,  on  which  the 
city  of  Melbourne  is  now  built, — and  such  was,  in  truth,  the 
first  discovery  of  Victoria. 

In  1803  Colonel  Collins  landed  at  Port  Phillip  to  form  a 
penal  settlement,  intended  as  a  supplemental  offshoot  to  that 
then  fully  established  at  Port  Jackson, — which  the  world 
used  to  call  Botany  Bay, — on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  con- 
tinent ;  but  he  seems  to  have  chosen  his  site  badly,  and  to 
have  kept  his  men  close  down  upon  the  sea-shore  where  there 
was  no  fresh  water.  This  attempt  at  a  settlement  was  made 
at  Point  Nepean,  the  eastern  headland  at  the  mouth  of  Port 
Phillip,  and  was  soon  abandoned.  The  depot  was  removed 
thence  to  the  mouth  of  the  Derwent,  on  the  opposite  island, 
and  was  the  commencement  of  the  great  penal  depot  which 
afterwards  flourished  in  Van  Diemen's  Land, — if  an  establish- 
ment for  the  custody  of  convicts  may  under  any  circum- 
stances be  said  to  flourish.  From  the  settlement  at  Point 
Nepean  some  of  the  convicts  escaped,  and  one  of  them  was 
neither  retaken,  nor  did  he  return,  nor  did  he  perish.  This 
man,  named  Buckley,  lived  thirty-two  years  among  the  blacks, 
forgot  his  own  language,  and  became  as  one  of  them.  In  1835 
he  reappeared,  and  was  found  by  a  party  of  white  men 
who  then  landed  at  Port  Phillip  from  Van  Diemen's  Land. 


14  VICTORIA. 

"  No  effort  was  made  to  colonise  Port  Phillip  for  many 
years  after  1803."  But  during  all  those  years  explorations 
from  Sydney  as  a  centre  were  being  made  into  the  continent. 
"In  181 7  Oxley,  the  surveyor-general  of  New  South  Wales, 
had  traced  the  Lachlan  River  nearly  to  its  junction  with  the 
Murrumbidgee,  and  had  therefore  nearly  approached  the 
present  boundary  of  Victoria,  being  within  240  miles  of  the 
site  of  Melbourne."  In  1824  an  expedition  was  formed 
under  the  auspices  of  Sir  Thomas  Brisbane,  the  governor, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  penetrate  through  from  the  known 
parts  of  New  South  Wales,  across  the  rivers  and  over  the 
mountains,  to  the  southern  coast.  This  expedition  was 
entrusted  to  Mr.  Hamilton  Hume,  who  was  joined  by  Mr. 
Hovell,  two  men  whose  names  are  well  known  among 
those  of  Australian  discoverers.  Both  these  gentlemen  were 
still  alive  when  I  was  in  the  colony,  and  I  will  not  take 
upon  myself  to  give  to  either  of  them  the  greater  credit  in 
the  matter,  but  will  content  myself  with  stating  that  Mr. 
Rusden  is  a  strong  advocate  of  Mr.  Hume's  claims.  The 
great  Australian  river  which  we  know  as  the  Murray  was 
crossed,  and  was  called  the  Hume,  which  name  it  still  bears 
in  its  upper  waters.  After  many  sufferings  and  great 
dangers,  Hume  and  Hovell  reached  Port  Phillip  overland. 
It  will  be  understood  that  hitherto  this  district  had  only  been 
touched  from  the  sea-board,  and  that  the  very  scanty  know- 
ledge possessed  by  Hume  and  Hovell  as  to  Port  Phillip  and 
Western  Port  was  simply  that  which  had  resulted  from  the 
maritime  discoveries  of  Murray  and  Flinders.  At  any  rate 
they  had  reached  the  southern  coast  of  that  "  Terre 
Napoleon,"  of  which  as  yet  no  real  possession  had  been 
taken  on  behalf  of  the  British  government.  Another  expe- 
dition was  then  made  by  sea  to  Western  Port,  under 
Governor  Darling's  instructions,  apparently  with  the  double 
object  of  opening  a  subsidiary  convict  establishment,  and  of 
confirming  the  claim  made  by  Great  Britain  to  the  possession 
of  the  country.  This  was  commanded  by  Captain  Wright, 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Hovell, — and  was  made  in  1826, — at 
which  time  also  another  convict  offshoot  of  the  centre  esta- 
blishment at  Port  Jackson  was  sent  under  Major  Lockyer 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  PORT  PHILLIP.  15 

to  King  George's  Sound, — the  southern  part  of  that  colony 
which  we  now  call  Western  Australia.  This  seems  also  to 
have  been  made  with  the  double  object  of  disposing  of 
convicts,  and  taking  possession  of  the  land  as  against  French 
claims.  Major  Lockyer  had  some  success,  but  Captain 
Wright  had  none.  "  The  fears  of  French  colonisation 
evaporated,  and  Western  Port  was  abandoned,  its  shores 
being  described  as  '  scrubby.' " 

"At  this  period,"  says  Mr.  Rusden,  "John  Batman  must 
be  introduced  upon  the  scene.  Now  Mr.  John  Batman  is  a 
very  interesting  person,  and  was  certainly  the  first  coloniser 
of  the  ground  on  which  Melbourne  stands.  On  the  nth  of 
January,  1827,  he,  conjointly  with  another  energetic  settler, 
addressed  the  following  letter  to  Governor  Darling,  from 
Launceston,  in  Van  Diemen's  Land,  to  which  place  he  had 
betaken  himself  from  Paramatta,  near  Sydney,  where  he  was 
born : — 

"  Sir, — Understanding  that  it  is  your  Excellency's  intention  to 
establish  a  permanent  settlement  at  Western  Port,  and  to  afford 
encouragement  to  respectable  persons  to  settle  there,  we  beg  leave 
most  respectfully  to  solicit  at  the  hands  of  your  Excellency  a  grant  of 
land  at  that  place  proportionable  to  the  property  which  we  intend  to 
embark.  We  are  in  possession  of  some  flocks  of  sheep  highly  im- 
proved, some  of  the  Meiino  breed,  and  some  of  the  pure  South  Devon  ; 
of  some  pure  South  Devon  cattle  imported  from  England  ;  and  also  of 
a  fine  breed  of  horses.  We  propose  to  ship  from  this  place  1,500  to 
2,000  sheep  ;  30  head  of  superior  cows,  oxen,  horses,  &c,  &c,  to  the 
value  of  from  £$, 000  to  ^"5,000,  the  whole  to  be  under  the  personal 
direction  of  Mr.  Batman,  who  is  a  native  of  New  South  Wales,  who 
will  constantly  reside  there  for  the  protection  of  the  establishment. 
Under  these  circumstances,  we  are  induced  to  hope  your  Excellency 
will  be  pleased  to  grant  us  a  tract  of  land  proportionable  to  the  sum  of 
money  we  propose  to  expend,  and  also  to  afford  us  every  encourage- 
ment in  carrying  the  pioposed  object  into  effect. 

"T.  J.  Gellibrand. 

"John  Batman." 

This  letter  is  a  clear  indication  of  the  manner  in  which  it 
was  then  presumed  that  grants  of  land  in  the  Australian 
colonies  would  be  made  to  those  who  brought  with  them  the 
means  of  occupying  the  land,  and  that  the  grants  should  be 
made  in  some  proportion  to  the  capital  invested.     On  this 


i6  VICTORIA. 

application  Governor  Darling  wrote  the  following  curt 
memorandum,  and  we  may  presume  that  the  answer  was  in 
accordance  with  it  :— 

"Acknowledge;  and  inform  Ihem  that  no  determination  having 
been  come  to  with  respect  to  the  settlement  of  Western  Port,  it  is  not 
in  my  power  to  comply  with  their  request.     March  17  (1827.)     R.  D." 

Mr.  Batman  was  rebuffed,  and  for  a  time  silenced,  but 
his  idea  of  embarking  all  his  fortunes  for  Port  Phillip  was 
never  abandoned.  Mr.  Rusden  goes  on  to  describe  how 
South  Australia  was  founded  in  1834,  owing  its  birth  to  the 
enterprise  of  Captain  Sturt.  Of  South  Australia  I  shall 
speak  elsewhere.  But  it  may  be  -veil  to  notice  here  that 
although  the  discovery  of  Port  Phillip  was  very  much  ante- 
cedent to  that  of  the  land  on  which  Adelaide  now  stands, 
though  Victoria  had  been  crossed  from  north  to  south  before 
any  attempt  at  exploration  had  been  made  in  the  sister 
colony  farther  west,  South  Australia  was  an  established 
province,  with  a  company  to  regulate  her  proceedings,  with 
a  governor  and  recognised  officers  of  her  own,  when  the 
first  real  attempt  was  being  made  by  any  man  to  earn  his 
bread  or  to  push  his  fortunes  in  Victoria.  Mr.  Batman  had 
meditated  the  attempt  in  1827,  but,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
been  rebuffed.  In  1834,  however,  Mr.  Henty,  also  a  settler 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Launceston,  on  the  opposite  island, 
determined  to  make  a  venture,  and  this  he  did, — no  doubt 
having  heard  of  John  Batman's  failure, — without  any  refer- 
ence to  the  government.  "  Mr.  Henty,"  says  Rusden, 
"  shipped  off  building  materials,  agricultural  implements, 
and  live  stock.  On  19th  of  November,  1834,  having  lost 
fifteen  head  of  stock  on  the  voyage,  the  adventurers  reached 
Portland  Bay,  and  on  the  6th  of  December  ploughing  was 
commenced  ;  and  thus  the  first  unbroken  colonisation  of 
Victorian  soil  dates  from  the  enterprise  of  Mr,  Henty.  In 
a  very  short  time  his  few  head  of  stock  increased  to  some 
7,000  sheep,  and  247  cattle,  and  25  horses,  and  continued 
intercourse  was  kept  up  with  Launceston."  As  it  happened, 
Mr.  Henty  had  made  good  his  footing,  guided,  as  we  must 
suppose,  only  by  chance  on  the  happiest  point  on  all  the 


EARLY  II [STORY  OF  fORT  PHILLIP.  17 

southern  shore.  Portland,  and  Warnambool,  to  the  east  of 
Portland,  are  the  harbours  of  that  western  district  of  Aus- 
tralia, which  was  once  called  Australia  Felix,  and  which  is 
in  many  respects  the  fairest  region  of  the  whole  continent. 
There  Mr.  Plenty  lived  and  prospered, — and  there  he  still 
lives  and,  as  I  believe,  still  prospers;  but  no  great  town 
sprang  up  on  the  site  which  he  had  chosen,  and  therefore 
his  name  has  not  become  conspicuous,  as  perhaps  it  ought 
to  have  done,  among  the  founders  of  his  country. 

We  will  now  return  to  Mr.  Batman,  who  did  become  con- 
spicuous. His  mind  was  still  full  of  that  opposite  shore, 
respecting  which  he  had,  with  a  wide  ambition  but  humble 
language,  made  his  unavailing  petition  to  the  Governor  of 
New  South  Wales.  "  Provoked  beyond  endurance,  Batman 
would  no  longer  be  debarred  from  the  downs  of  Iramoo,  so 
temptingly  described  by  Plume  and  mapped  by  Sturt,  He 
determined  to  carve  out  his  own  way.  South  Australia  was 
being  occupied,  and  the  occupation  was  called  laudable  in 
the  preamble  of  an  Act  of  Parliament.  Henty  had  gone  to 
Portland  Bay,  and  no  man  had  stayed  him.  Batman  would 
go  to  Port  Phillip  ;  and  as  the  New  South  Wales  governor 
had  not  recognised  his  right  to  go  there,  Batman  would 
make  a  convention  with  the  rightful  and  natural  '  lords  of 
the  soil' " 

Batman  did  go  over,  and  did  make  a  convention  with  the 
natives.  He  landed  on  Indented  Head,  on  the  western 
side  of  the  harbour,  and  tracked  out  a  large  district  of 
country,  including  the  site  on  which  the  town  of  Geelong 
now  stands,  including  the  Iramoo  Downs  and  the  country 
called  Dutigalla  by  the  natives ;  and  on  a  spot  a  mile  or  two 
north  of  the  present  city  of  Melbourne,  he  made  a  treaty 
with  them,  by  which  he  pledged  himself  to  protect  them 
and  to  pay  them  some  annual  tribute,  and  by  which  they 
undertook  to  surrender  to  him  the  country  which  he  pro- 
posed thus  to  purchase.  Batman  had  with  him  the  chart 
of  the  country,  as  drawn  by  Captain  Flinders,  and  published 
by  the  subsequent  explorer,  Captain  Sturt,  and  did  not 
himself  profess,  as  Mr.  Rusden  points  out,  to  discover,  but 
simply  to  occupy  the  country.     But  he  prepared,  or  had 

c 


1 8  VICTORIA. 

prepared  for  him,  a  chart  of  his  proposed  purchase,  which 
he  sent  to  the  Governor  of  Van  Diemen's  Land,  from  whom 
he  first  endeavoured  to  obtain  government  sanction  for 
what  he  had  done.  "  The  limits  of  the  land  purchased  by 
me,"  he  said,  "  are  defined  in  the  chart,  which  I  have  the 
honour  of  transmitting,  taken  from  personal  inquiry."  In 
this  chart,  of  which  Mr.  Rusden  has  published  a  copy,  the 
land — not  on  which  Melbourne  proper  now  stands,  but 
which  is  occupied  by  Emerald  Hill,  Sandridge,  and  other 
suburbs  of  the  city — is  marked  as  "  reserved  for  the  town- 
ship, and  other  public  purposes."  The  site  of  the  city  itself 
is  a  part  of  the  tract  intended  to  be  used  by  Batman  for 
pastoral  purposes. 

The  treaty  is  a  marvellous  document, — as  being  intended 
to  make  good  a  purchase  of  land  from  the  aboriginal 
savages,  in  a  country  as  to  which  Batman  had  already  shown, 
by  his  petition  to  the  Governor  of  New  South  Wales,  that 
he  was  well  aware  that  the  British  Crown  claimed  the 
ownership  of  it.  He  must  have  known  that  it  could  not 
have  been  operative  either  on  his  side  or  that  of  the  abori- 
gines. It  seems  that  he  landed  with  the  treaty  in  his 
pocket, — with  the  places  for  the  names  and  distances  left 
blank,  to  be  filled  by  him.  When  so  completed  it  stipulated 
that  we,  "  Jaga  Jaga,  and  others," — the  black  chiefs  of  the 
tribes, — "  do,  for  ourselves,  our  heirs  and  successors,  give, 
grant,  enfeoff,  and  confirm  unto  the  said  John  Batman,  his 
heirs  and  assigns,  all  that  tract  of  country  situate  and  being 
in  Port  Phillip,  running  from  the  branch  of  the  river  at  the 
top  of  the  Port,  about  seven  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  forty  miles  N.E.,  and  from  thence  west  forty  miles 
across  Iramoo  Downs,  and  from  thence  S.S.W-  across 
Vilumanata  to  Geelong  harbour  at  the  head  of  the  same, 
and  containing  about  500,000  acres,  more  or  less."  So  that 
Mr.  Batman  was  determined  to  obtain  a  goodly  estate,  if 
in  this  way  it  might  be  obtained.  It  would  probably  be 
difficult  to  ascertain  how  many  millions  of  pounds  the  land 
so  defined  is  now  worth.  This  treaty  was  made  in  June, 
1835.  Batman  probably  never  thought  that  he'  should  be 
allowed  to  take  possession  of  the  land,  but  did  think,  and 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  PORT  PHILLIP.  ly 

with  just  ground,  that  he  would  not  be  expelled  from  it 
without  compensation,  and  that  by  his  occupation  of  it  he 
would  obtain  some  recognised  position.  By  asking  much 
he  would  get  something,  especially  when  he  adopted  a  mode 
of  asking  so  much  more  likely  to  obtain  serious  attention 
than  that  which  he  adopted  when  he  wrote  to  Governor 
Darling.  Batman,  having  so  far  carried  out  his  scheme, 
returned  to  Van  Diemen's  Land,  and  applied  to  the  governor 
there  for  his  sanction,  sending  a  chart  of  his  new  estate. 
But  the  Governor  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  had  no  sanction 
to  give.  Port  Phillip  was  not  within  his  jurisdiction,  but 
was  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Governor-General  of 
New  South  Wales.  And  the  Governor  of  Van  Diemen's 
Land  also  remarked,  that  the  recognition  of  Batman's  treaty 
"  would  appear  to  me  a  departure  from  the  principle  upon 
which  a  parliamentary  sanction,  without  reference  to  the 
aborigines,  has  been  given  to  the  settlement  of  South 
Australia,  as  part  of  the  possessions  of  the  Crown."  There 
could  be  no  doubt  about  it.  The  British  Crown  had 
decided  that  it  owned  all  Australia,  that  consequently  the 
aborigines  had  nothing  to  sell,  and  that,  consequently  again, 
Mr.  Batman  could  purchase  nothing  from  them.  Had  Mr. 
Batman's  claim  to  purchase  from  the  blacks  been  allowed, 
very  many  such  purchases  would  have  been  made, — and 
some  of  the  purchasers  would  have  been  even  less  scrupulous 
in  their  dimensions  than  was  Mr.  Batman.  But  Mr.  Batman 
did  not  stop  here.  He  also  applied  to  the  authorities  at 
home,  and  expressed  a  hope  that  the  Crown  would  "  relin- 
quish any  legal  point  of  constructive  right  to  the  land  in 
question."  But  the  Crown,  or  rather  Lord  Glenelg,  who 
was  then  Secretary  of  State  for  Colonial  Affairs,  informed 
him  "  that  the  territory  was  part  of  the  colony  of  New 
South  Wales,  and  that  no  title  to  lands  could  be  acquired 
there,  except  upon  the  terms  presented  in  Sir  R.  Bourke's 
commission  and  instruction  from  the  Queen."  At  this  time 
Sir  R.  Bourke  was  Governor  of  New  South  Wales,  and  was 
also  Governor-in-Chief  over  the  Governor  of  Tasmania. 

Mr.  Batman,  though  he  was  the  moving  spirit  in  the  whole 
matter,  was  only  one  of  an  association   in  regard  to  the 


20  VICTORIA. 

capital  invested.  This  association  at  last  wound  itself  up  by 
selling  whatever  interests  it  had  to  two  of  its  own  members  ; 
and  the  government  allowed  to  these  two  gentlemen  a  sum 
of  ,£7,000,  in  liquidation  of  so  much  money  expended  on  a 
legal  purchase  of  lands ;  and  this  was  done,  as  is  expressed, 
in  consideration  "  of  expenses  incurred  by  them  in  the  first 
formation  of  the  settlement." 

I  cannot  complete  this  short  record  of  Mr.  Batman's 
adventures  without  alluding  to  Mr.  Fawkner,  on  whose 
behalf  many  have  claimed  the  honour  of  having  founded 
Melbourne  ; — and  who,  I  believe,  was  declared  to  claim  it 
for  himself.  Mr.  Batman  had  been  busy  with  Jaga  Jaga, 
the  native  chief,  in  June,  1835.  In  October,  1835,  Mr. 
Fawkner  landed  at  Port  Phillip,- — also  from  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  whence  came  all  the  early  settlers  of  Victoria,  so  that 
the  leading  Australian  colony  may  be  said  to  be  an  offshoot 
from  that  island,  rather  than  from  New  South  AVales ; — but 
the  party  with  which  he  was  connected  seem  to  have  made 
their  way  across  in  July.  They  encountered  some  of  Bat- 
man's followers,  and,  after  trying  various  places  for  a  settle- 
ment, made  their  way  up  Port  Phillip,  and  at  last  pitched 
on  the  present  site  of  Melbourne,  and  seem  to  have  settled 
there,  not  quite  in  unity  with  the  Batman  party,  but  without 
direct  hostility.  Their  feuds,  such  as  they  were,  will  hardly 
interest  the  reader  ; — but  it  is  interesting  to  learn  that  the 
situation  of  the  city,  and  consequently  the  origin  of  the 
colony,  was  due  to  the  enterprise  of  these  two  men,  Batman 
and  Fawkner,  and  of  the  associations  with  which  their  names 
are  connected.  In  1836  there  arrived  H.M.S.  "Rattle- 
snake," bringing  with  her,  as  the  official  head  of  the  new 
settlement,  Captain  Lonsdale, — after  whom  one  of  the  main 
streets  of  Melbourne  is  now  named.  This  seems  to  have 
been  the  first  official  recognition  of  the  place ;  and  at  that 
time  the  town — or  rather  settlement — had  been  called  by 
the  inhabitants  Glenelg,  after  the  Colonial  Secretary,  whom 
we,  who  are  old,  remember  as  Charles  Grant.  It  was  not 
till  the  next  year  that  it  was  named  Melbourne,  after  the 
then  Prime  Minister  in  England. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  Port  Phillip ;  but  Victoria  did 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  PORT  PHILLIP.  21 

not  even  then  exist.  From  its  very  earliest  commencement 
Port  Phillip  was  a  success.  It  must  be  remembered  that  in 
those  days  there  was  no  gold,  and  that  this  new  settlement 
was  not  bolstered  up  by  money  from  home,  as  was  the  case 
with  the  convict  establishments  at  Sydney,  in  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  and  at  Moreton  Bay.  It  seems  that  from  the  first 
agriculture,  joined  with  the  growth  of  wool, — not  the  growth 
of  wool  only, — had  been  the  purpose  of  those  who  migrated 
from  Launceston  to  Port  Phillip.  We  are  told  as  regards 
the  first  comers  that  after  so  many  days, — within  five  days 
or  within  six  days  of  their  arrival, — the  plough  had  passed 
through  the  soil,  and  that  the  seed  was  sown.  Australian 
colonists  had  become  discontented  with  themselves  in  that 
they  had  not  as  yet  produced  wheat  for  their  own  use.  In 
New  South  Wales  the  effort  to  do  so  had  failed.  In  South 
Australia  it  was  already  succeeding.  In  Victoria  the 
attempt  was  at  once  made,  and  it  has  progressed  with 
moderate  success.  The  colony  has  not  as  yet  been  able 
to  feed  itself.  In  1S38  the  young  settlement  had  all  the 
healthy  roughness  of  youth.  Melbourne  consisted  of  a  few 
wooden  huts,  and,  as  we  are  told,  looked  like  an  Indian 
village.  There  was  a  wooden  church  with  a  bell  suspended 
from  a  tree.  There  were  two  little  wooden  publicdrouses. 
Kangaroos  were  eaten  because  mutton  was  still  scarce. 
Mr.  Fawkner,  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  established  a  news- 
paper, but  it  was  a  newspaper  in  manuscript,  of  which  I  will 
speak  further  in  a  future  chapter.  In  one  of  these  papers 
there  is  an  advertisement  for  a  ferry  between  Melbourne  and 
Williamstown,  which  is  now  the  port  of  Melbourne.  "  Parties 
from  Melbourne  are  requested  to  raise  a  smoke  and  the  boat 
will  be  at  their  service  as  soon  as  practicable."  The  stumps 
of  trees  still  stood  in  the  one  or  two  streets  which  were 
already  in  course  of  formation.  That  such  should  have 
been  the  condition  of  a  young  town  is  by  no  means  remark- 
able ;  but  that  it  should  so  lately  have  been  the  condition 
of  a  city  so  great  as  Melbourne  now  is,  I  regard  as  very 
remarkable.  This  was  in  1838, — a  period  which  to  some 
of  us  does  not  seem  to  be  very  remote ;  and  now  Melbourne 
is  one  of  the  most  successful  cities  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 


22  VICTORIA. 

"  The  Port  Phillip  settlement  was  not  five  years  old  when 
its  inhabitants  began  to  call  for  separation  from  New  South 
Wales,  and  for  its  establishment  as  a  distinct  colony,  with 
equal  privileges  to  those  conferred  upon  Van  Diemen's 
Land  in  the  south  and  South  Australia  in  the  west.  A 
partial  answer  to  their  demand  was  made  by  the  political 
reform  of  1842,  which  gave  a  larger  area  and  political  insti- 
tution to  the  district,  and  allowed  it  to  send  six  delegates  of 
its  own  to  the  Legislative  Council  at  Sydney."  *  But  such 
representation  as  this  by  no  means  satisfied  the  aspiring 
political  idea  of  the  new  settlers.  It  did  not  suit  them  to 
send  delegates  to  Sydney,  which  they  regarded  as  a  place 
subject  altogether  to  government  authority, — slow,  conser- 
vative, and  down-trodden.  Such  has  ever  been  and  still  is 
the  idea  held  in  Melbourne  and  Victoria  generally  of 
Sydney  and  its  surroundings.  It  seems  that  from  the  very 
beginning  of  its  life  Melbourne  resolved  that  she  would  not 
be  subject  to  Sydney.  The  agitation  was  continued  down 
to  1850,  taking  at  last  the  form  of  a  demand  for  absolute 
separation.  In  those  days, — though  they  are  but  the  other 
day, — such  requests  were  not  granted  easily,  as  they  are 
now.  It  was  thought  wise  then  to  grant  slowly  and  with 
seeming  reluctance.  But  in  1850  the  request  was  granted, 
and  an  Act  of  Parliament  was  passed  making  Port  Phillip  a 
separate  colony.  The  arrangement  commenced  on  1st  July, 
1 85 1,  and  its  present  name,  Victoria,  is  said  to  have  been 
selected  by  the  Queen  herself.  On  that  date  Victoria 
became  a  separate  colony,  the  fifth  in  chronological  order  of 
those  which  we  know  together  as  Australia.  New  South 
Wales  had  been  the  first,  Van  Diemen's  Land — now  Tas- 
mania— the  second,  Western  Australia  the  third,  South 
Australia  the  fourth,  and  now  Victoria,  soon  to  become  by 
far  the  most  important,  was  the  youngest. 

But  its  importance  did  not  come  from  that  wealth  of  pas- 
ture and  wealth  of  corn-bearing  soil  to  which  the  Hentys, 
Batmans,  and  Fawkners  had  looked  when  they  passed  over, 
into  the  land  from  Tasmania.     What  might  have  been  the 

*  "  The  Story  of  Our  Colonies,"  by  Fox  Bourne. 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  PORT  PHILLIP.  23 

future  of  Victoria  had  her  success  depended  on  those  simple 
products  of  the  soil,  it  is  useless  now  to  speculate.  In  grow- 
ing wheat  she  could  not  have  competed  with  South  Australia, 
as  her  climate  is  less  favourable  for  the  product.  In  pro- 
ducing wool  she  could  not  have  competed  with  New  South 
Wales,  as  her  borders  are  narrower  and  her  limits  confined. 
In  regard  to  fruits  and  vegetables  she  is  infinitely  inferior 
to  her  despised  mother,  Tasmania.  She  has  no  special  gifts 
of  fine  harbours,  an  advantage  bestowed  by  nature,  which 
will  sometimes  compensate  evil  qualities  in  other  directions. 
Port  Jackson,  Hobart  Town,  and  King  George's  Sound  are 
infinitely  better  ports  than  Hobson's  Bay,  the  roadstead  at 
the  top  of  Port  Phillip,  into  which  the  Yarra  River  runs, 
and  which  forms  the  port  of  Williamstown  and  the  harbour 
of  Melbourne  ; — for  in  reaching  this  haven  vessels  have  to 
pass  the  Rip,  which  bubbles  and  eddies  -between  the  heads 
which  guard  the  entrance  forty  miles  down  from  Melbourne. 
Luckily  for  the  new  settlement,  they  who  had  founded  it 
had  been  men  of  energy,  fit  for  the  work  in  hand,  not 
expecting  too  much,  anxious  of  course  to  thrive,  but  not 
looking  for  instant  fortunes,  prone  to  work  themselves  and 
capable  of  making  others  work ;  by  no  means  gentlemen  in 
the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  but  as  good  a  set  of  colonists 
as  ever  were  landed  on  the  shores  of  a  new  country. 
Within  fifteen  years  from  their  start,  if  we  count  from  the 
foundation  of  Melbourne, — or  within  sixteen  from  the  date 
of  Mr.  Henty's  arrival  at  Portland, — they  had  already 
caused  themselves  to  be  classed  as  a  separate  colony,  with 
a  governor  of  their  own, — and  a  parliament  of  their  own, 
though  not  a  parliament  so  thoroughly  radical  in  its  con- 
struction as  that  which  they  now  possess.  There  can  be 
but  little  doubt  that  without  other  chances  in  its  favour  a 
colony  so  founded  would  not  have  been  the  last  in  the  race. 
But  other  fortune  did  attend  it,  so  rich,  so  attractive,  and  so 
magnificent  that  it  has  become  the  very  first  on  the  list.  No 
single  British  colony  has  ever  enjoyed  prosperity  so  great 
and  so  rapid  as  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  Victoria. 

In  185 1  gold  was  struck  at  Ballaarat  or  the  neighbour- 
hood.   It  was  soon  apparent  that  the  entire  condition  of  the 


24  VICTORIA. 

colony  was  changed  by  the  success  of  the  gold-fmdeis,  and 
that  Victoria,  as  she  is  now  and  has  been  since  we  first 
began  to  talk  about  Melbourne  at  home  as  one  of  the  great- 
cities  of  the  earth,  was  made  out  of  gold.  Gold  made  Mel- 
bourne. Gold  made  the  other  cities  of  Victoria.  Gold 
made  her  railways  ;  gold  brought  to  her  the  population 
which  demanded  and  obtained  that  democratic  form  of 
government  which  is  her  pride.  Gold  gave  its  special  value 
to  her  soil, — not  only  or  chiefly  from  its  own  intrinsic  value, 
not  only  or  chiefly  to  that  soil  which  contains  it, — but  to 
surrounding  districts,  far  and  wide,  by  the  increased  demand 
for  its  product  and  the  increasing  population  which  required 
it  for  their  homes. 

But  this  success  was  achieved  by  no  means  without  a 
struggle,  nor  did  the  good  things  come  without  bringing  for 
awhile  many  ill  things  in  their  train.  There  is  this  pecu- 
liarity in  gold,  as  an  object  of  industry,  that  the  quest  of  it 
disturbs  all  other  adjacent  industries.  It  is  natural  of 
course  that  men  should  seek  that  work  in  which  they  can  earn 
the  best  wages,  and  that  any  new  calling  offering  high  pay 
will  to  a  certain  degree  derange  the  supply  of  labour  ordi- 
narily forthcoming  for  ordinary  occupations.  But  in  all 
other  trades  than  that  of  gold-seeking,  the  customary  work- 
ing of  commerce  soon  brings  matters  to  a  level.  Wages 
rise  a  little  on  one  side  and  fall  a  little  on  the  other.  Skill, 
and  power,  and  intelligence  hold  their  own,  and  the  disrup- 
tions that  occur  are  those  of  a  passing  storm.  But  gold  up- 
heaves everything,  and  its  disruptions  are  those  of  an  earth- 
quake. The  workman  rushes  away  from  his  old  allotted 
task,  not  to  higher  wages,  not  to  3J.  a  clay  instead  of  2s.,  or 
6s.  instead  of  $s.,  but  to  untold  wealth  and  unlimited 
splendour, — to  an  unknown,  fabulous,  but  not  the  less 
credited  realm  of  riches.  All  that  he  has  seen  of  worldly 
grandeur,  hitherto  removed  high  as  the  heavens  above  his 
head,  may  with  success  be  his.  All  that  he  has  dreamed  of 
the  luxurious  happiness  of  those  whom  he  has  envied  seems 
to  be  brought  within  his  reach.  It  seems  to  him  that  the 
affairs  of  the  world  generally  are  to  be  turned  over  and 
reversed,  and  that  thus  at  last  justice  is  to  be  done  to  him 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  PORT  PHILLIP.  25 

who  has  hitherto  been  kept  cruelly  too  near  the  bottom  of 
the  wheel.  His  imagination  is  on  fire,  and  he  is  unable  any 
longer  to  listen  to  reason.  He  is  no  longer  capable  of  doing 
a  plain  day's  work  for  a  plain  day's  wages.  There  is  gold 
to  be  had  by  lifting  it  from  the  earth,  and  he  will  be  one  of 
the  happy  ones  to  lift  it.  The  presence  of  gold  is  a  fact. 
All  the  corollaries  of  the  fact  might  be  plain  to  him  also,  if 
he  would  open  his  ears  to  them, — but,  in  regard  to  himself, 
he  is  deaf  as  an  adder  to  them.  That  all  the  world  around 
him  is  rushing  to  the  diggings,  he  can  see  ; — and  he  knows 
that  there  are  not  princely  fortunes  for  them  all.  In  some 
rough  way  he  knows  that,  were  there  fortunes  for  them  all, 
the  fortunes  would  cease  to  be  princely.  But  "  something 
tells  him," — as  he  explains  to  the  friend  of  his  bosom, — 
"  something  tells  him  "  that  he  is  to  be  the  lucky  man. 
There  is  a  something  telling  the  same  lie  to  every  man  in 
that  toil-worn  crowd,  as  with  sore  feet  and  heavy  burden  on 
his  shoulders  he  hurries  on  to  the  diggings.  -In  truth  he  has 
become  a  gambler, — and  from  this  time  forth  a  gambler  he 
will  live  ;  though  his  true  industry,  the  sweat  of  his  brow, 
which  will  be  really  productive  for  the  world's  good,  will 
save  him  from  those  worst  curses  which  attend  a  gambler's 
career. 

Thus  it  was  that  men  from  all  this  colony  and  all  the 
colonies,  and  that  men  in  crowds  from  the  old  mother 
country  and  from  other  countries,  hurried  off  to.  Victoria. 
The  effect  upon  South  Australia,  to  the  west,  was  so  great, 
that  for  a  time  it  was  feared  that  the  young  settlement 
would  be  depopulated.  Farms  were  abandoned,  and  sold 
for  a  trifle.  Tradesmen  shut  up  their  shops.  When  their 
customers  had  gone  to  the  diggings,  what  could  they  do  but 
follow  ?  Shepherds  from  the  recently  stocked  pastures  of 
the  Riverina  and  the  Darling  rushed  down  over  the  Murray. 
And  worse  still,  the  shearers  who  should  have  shorn  the 
flocks  were  gone  when  the  fleeces  were  ready  for  the  shears. 
All  these  were  welcomed  by  the  young  colony.  There  was 
no  jealousy  of  new-comers  as  long  as  those  who  came  bore 
characters  as  honest  men, — or  had  at  least  had  no  brands 
upon  the  forehead.     But  the  convicts  from  Tasmania  broke 


26  VICTORIA. 

loose  and  swelled  the  crowd.  Barriers  which  had  sufficed 
to  retain  the  unexcited  felon  availed  nothing  when  the 
imagination  of  the  wretch  had  been  inflamed  by  tidings  of 
gold.  They  also  swarmed  over  from  the  island  and  joined 
the  crowd,  to  the  loudly  expressed  disgust  of  a  colony  which 
was  perhaps  somewhat  Pharisaical  by  reason  of  her  own 
comparative  purity. 

Then  there  arose  such  a  turmoil  of  circumstances,  such  a 
hurly-burly  of  social  and  material  wants,  as  men  were  sure 
not  to  have  anticipated,  though  in  looking  back  upon  the 
facts  every  one  now  can  see  well  that  they  were  unavoid- 
able. How  was  the  crowd  to  feed  itself,  to  shelter  itself, 
and  to  clothe  itself?  With  such  business  as  that  on  which 
they  were  engaged,  deficiencies  in  respect  of  house  accom- 
modation could  be  endured.  The  smallest  and  the  roughest 
tents  sufficed.  Boots,  trousers,  and  a  flannel  shirt  completed 
the  wardrobe  of  many  a  high-born  digger,  and  as  long  as 
the  articles  would  hold  together  men  working  for  gold  would 
be  content.  But  there  must  be  food  ;  and  the  feeding  of 
20,000  men,  brought  together  as  though  by  magic,  requires 
almost  miraculous  energy.  All  things  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  diggings  became  extravagantly  dear, — so  dear  that 
the  absolute  value  of  the  article  seemed  hardly  to  bear  at 
all  on  the  price  fixed.  And  in  response  to  this,  or  rather 
as  an  encouragement  to  it,  the  diggers  themselves,  with 
newly  found  gold  in  their  hands,  indifferent  as  they  were  to 
comforts,  seemed  hardly  to  care  what  they  paid  for  those 
luxuries  of  which  they  had  dreamed.  To  such  a  one  it  was 
nothing  to  give  an  ounce  of  gold  for  a  bottle  of  so-called 
champagne,  though  the  champagne  had  cost  in  Melbourne 
perhaps  3^.  Gd.,  and  the  gold  was  worth  certainly  more  than 

But  who  was  to  supply  the  wants  of  diggers  when  every 
one  was  himself  a  digger  ?  Or,  if  there  were  some  steady 
enough  to  resist  the  temptation  and  to  cling  to  haunts  which 
were  comparatively  old,  how  were  they  to  obtain  that  assist- 
ance in  their  work  of  living,  which  in  this  complex  world  we 
all  render  one  to  another?  Who  was  to  cook  his  dinner  for 
the  unfortunate  lawyer  who  had  lately  settled  in  the  rising 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  PORT  PHILLIP.  27 

town  of  Melbourne,  when  every  young  woman  had  rushed  off 
to  the  diggings,  to  get  whatever  wages  she  chose  to  ask, 
even  if  she  could  not  do  better  for  herself  by  getting  a  dig- 
ger as  a  husband  ?  Or,  whoever  was  to  sell  him  a  mutton 
chop  to  be  cooked,  when  the  half-dozen  butchers  of  the 
rising  metropolis  had  gone  away  to  the  diggings,  either 
themselves  to  dig  or  else  to  follow  the  much  more  profitable 
occupation  of  supplying  the  diggers  ?  For  it  was  soon  found 
that  this  first  El  Dorado  had  brought  a  second  with  it. 
There  was  already  a  double  set  of  gold-seekers.  It  was  a 
grand  thing  to  drink  champagne  at  an  ounce  of  gold  the 
bottle ;  but  it  was  a  much  better  thing,  if  not  a  grander,  to 
sell  champagne  at  that  price.  It  was  fine  to  get  a  nugget ; 
- — only  that  nuggets  were  so  uncertain.  But  there  were 
nuggets  found  daily  by  some  happy  diggers,  and  those  who 
found  were  always  ready  to  buy  everything  that  was  offered 
to  them.  That  second  El  Dorado  was  more  certain  though 
less  glorious  than  the  first. 

There  was,  indeed,  an  earthquake  which  at  first  it  seemed 
impossible  that  the  community  as  a  whole  should  withstand. 
Everything  was  disordered  and  out  of  place.  All  that  had 
been  at  the  bottom  was  at  the  top.  That  which  had  been 
at  the  top  was  at  the  bottom.  How  were  these  men  to  be 
governed,  who  by  the  very  nature  of  their  calling  want  much 
of  that  protection  which  we  call  government  ?  Something  of 
the  same  kind  occurred  in  the  early  days  of  California, — but 
not  to  the  same  extent ;  and  there  Lynch  law  had  prevailed. 
They  who  saw  those  times  in  California  declare  that  society 
there  was  preserved  by  Lynch  law ; — that,  bad  as  it  must 
necessarily  be,  unjust,  tyrannical,  cruel,  conducive  as  it  must 
be  to  a  reign  of  terror  and  unlimited  power  in  the  hands  of 
some  few  utterly  unfit  to  use  it,  it  was  infinitely  better  than 
the  no-law  which  would  otherwise  have  prevailed.  But  Cali- 
fornia had  then  been  very  distant  from  any  recognised  seat 
of  power,  whereas  Ballaarat  was  no  more  than  100  miles 
from  Melbourne.  The  government  was  bound  to  govern, — ■ 
to  send  magistrates,  commissioners,  inspectors,  constables, 
and  the  like.  But  you  cannot  make  a  man  be  a  constable, 
nor  even  a  magistrate,  against  his  will.     When  the  men  to 


28  VICTORIA. 

be  watched  were  finding  nuggets  of  gold  before  noon,  and 
nuggets  in  the  afternoon,  and  nuggets  at  night,  at  what  rate 
per  annum  and  per  week  were  you  to  pay  your  magistrates 
and  your  constables  ? 

The  reader  will  not,  I  think,  fail  to  understand  that  there 
was  much  of  what  we  call  rough  work  in  the  colony  at  that 
time.  There  arose  one  turmoil  so  loud  that  soldiers  were 
called  on  to  fight  the  miners,  and  that  miners  entrenched 
themselves  within  palisades,  intending  to  fight  the  soldiers. 
This,  too,  occurred  at  Ballaarat,  and  I  shall  say  perhaps  a 
word  of  that  affair  when  speaking  of  Victoria's  mining  capital. 
My  present  object  is  to  show  the  conditions  through  which 
the  colony  has  passed,  and  the  causes  which  have  made  it 
what  it  is.  Gradually  things  settle  themselves  into  the  old 
grooves,  and  the  earthquake  died  out.  Its  rumblings  were 
still  heard, — but  at  last  it  rumbled  only,  and  did  not  frighten. 
And  when  it  had  passed  away  the  causes  which  had  created 
it  had  filled  the  land  with  wealth.  Many  had  been  ruined. 
Many  a  youth,  who  in  his  own  country  had  enjoyed  all  that 
love  and  education  could  do  for  him,  had  come  out  to 
perish  miserably  in  the  mud  of  an  Australian  gully.  There 
had  been  terrible  suffering,  crushing  disappointment, — all 
the  agonies  of  toil,  at  first  hopeful,  but  at  last  utterly  unre- 
munerative,  of  which  no  history  can  ever  be  written.  There 
had  been  broken  hopes,  wasted  energies,  the  ague-fit  after 
the  fever.  But  a  people  had  been  established,  and  a  land 
had  been  enriched.  This,  I  take  it,  is  all  that  need  be  said 
of  the  early  history  of  Victoria. 


CHAPTER  III. 

MELBOURNE. 

Melbourne  has  certainly  made  a  great  name  for  itself,  and 
is  the  undoubted  capital,  not  only  of  Victoria  but  of  all 
Australia.  It  contains,  together  with  her  suburbs,  206,000 
souls,  and  of  these  so-called  suburbs  the  most  populous  are 
as  much  a  part  of  Melbourne  as  Southwark  is  of  London  ; — ■ 
or  were  I  to  say  as  Marylebone  is  of  London,  my  descrip- 
tion would  be  true,  as  there  is  no  line  of  demarcation  trace- 
able by  any  eyes  but  those  of  town-councillors  and  the 
collectors  of  borough  rates.  There  are  very  many  cities  in 
the  world  with  larger  populations,- — so  many  that  the  number 
does  not  strike  one  with  surprise.  But  I  believe  that  no 
city  has  ever  attained  so  great  a  size  with  such  rapidity. 
Forty  years  ago  from  the  present  date  (1873),  the  foot  of  no 
white  man  had  trodden  the  ground  on  which  Melbourne 
now  stands,  unless  it  was  the  foot  of  Buckley  the  escaped 
convict,  who  lived  for  thirty  years  with  a  tribe  of  native 
savages. 

Melbourne  is  not  a  city  beautiful  to  the  eye  from  the 
charms  of  the  landscape  surrounding  it,  as  are  Edinburgh 
and  Bath  with  us,  and  as  are  Sydney  and  Hobart  Town  in 
Australia,  and  Dunedin  in  New  Zealand.  Though  it  stands 
on  a  river  which  has  in  itself  many  qualities  of  prettiness  in 
streams, —  a  tortuous,  rapid  little  river  with  varied  banks, — 
the  Yarra  Yarra  by  name,  it  seems  to  have  but  little  to  do 
with  the  city.  It  furnishes  the  means  of  rowing  to  young 
men,  and  waters  the  Botanical  Gardens.  But  it  is  not  "  a 
joy  for  ever"  to  the  Melbournites,  as  the  Seine  is  to  the 


30  VICTORIA. 

people  of  Paris,  or  the  Inn  to  the  people  of  Innsbruck. 
You  might  live  in  Melbourne  all  your  life  and  hardly  know 
that  the  Yarra  Yarra  was  running  by  your  door.  Nor  is 
Melbourne  made  graceful  with  neighbouring  hills.  It  stands 
indeed  itself  on  two  hills,  and  on  the  valley  which  separates 
them  ;  and  these  afford  rising  ground  sufficient  to  cause  con- 
siderable delay  to  the  obese  and  middle-aged  pedestrian 
when  the  hot  winds  are  blowing, — as  hot  winds  do  blow  at 
summer-time  in  Melbourne.  But  there  are  no  hills  to  pro- 
duce scenery,  or  scenic  effect. 

Nevertheless  the  internal  appearance  of  the  city  is  cer- 
tainly magnificent.  The  city  proper, — that  Melbourne  itsel 
which  is  subject  to  the  municipal  control  of  the  mayor,  and 
which  in  regard  to  all  its  municipal  regulations  is  distinct 
from  its  suburbs, — is  built  on  the  Philadelphia!!,  rectangular, 
parallelogrammic  plan.  Every  street  runs  straight,  and  every 
other  street  runs  either  parallel  to  it  or  at  right  angles  with 
it.  The  principal  streets  run  east  and  west, — Great  Flinders 
Street,  then  Collins  Street, — which  is  the  High  Street  of  the 
city,  and  its  Regent  Street  and  Bond  Street ;  then  Bourke 
Street, — which  is  its  Oxford  Street  and  Cheapside ;  and  then 
beyond  them  Latrobe  Street,  Lonsdale  Street,  and  others. 
Second  class  streets,  but  streets  which  do  not  admit 
themselves  to  be  second  class,  run  at  right  angles  to  these  ; 
Russell  Street,  Swanston  Street, — a  street  which  by  no  means 
thinks  itself  second  class  ;  Elizabeth  Street, — also  a  proud 
street ;  Queen  Street,  William  Street,  and  King  Street.  And 
then  between  all  these  streets, — which  are  busy  streets, — 
there  run  little  streets  calling  themselves  lanes,  and  assuming 
generally  the  name  of  their  big  brother.  Thus  there  are 
Flinders  Lane  and  Collins  Lane,  and  so  on.  But  they  are 
all  regular,  all  rectangular,  and  all  parallelogrammic. 

It  is  the  width  of  the  streets  chiefly  which  gives  to  the  city 
its  appearance  of  magnificence  ; — that,  and  the  devotion  of 
very  large  spaces  within  the  city  to  public  gardens.  The3e 
gardens  are  not  in  themselves  well  kept.  They  are  not  lovely, 
as  are  those  of  Sydney  in  a  super-excellent  degree.  Some 
of  them  are  profusely  ornamented  with  bad  statues.  None 
of  them,  whatever  may  be  their  botanical  value,  are  good 


MELBOURNE.  31 

gardens.  But  they  are  large  and  numerotrsf  aTTcTgive  an  air 
of  wholesomcness  and  space  to  the  whole  city.  They  afford 
green  walks  to  the  citizens,  and  bring  much  of  the  health 
and  some  of  the  pleasures  of  the  country  home  to  them  all. 

One  cannot  walk  about  Melbourne  without  being  struck 
by  all  that  has  been  done  for  the  welfare  of  the  people 
generally.  There  is  no  squalor  to  be  seen, — though  there 
are  quarters  of  the  town  in  which  the  people  no  doubt  are 
squalid.  In  every  great  congregation  of  men  there  will  be  a 
residuum  of  poverty  and  filth,  let  humanity  do  what  she 
will  to  prevent  it.  In  Melbourne  there  is  an  Irish  quarter, 
and  there  is  a  Chinese  quarter,  as  to  both  of  which  I  was 
told  that  the  visitor  who  visited  them  aright  might  see  much 
of  the  worst  side  of  life.  But  he  who  would  see  such  misery 
in  Melbourne  must  search  for  it  especially.  It  will  not  meet 
his  eye  by  chance  as  it  does  in  London,  in  Paris,  and  now 
also  in  New  York.  The  time  will  come  no  doubt  when  it 
will  do  so  also  in  Melbourne,  but  at  present  the  city,  in  all 
the  pride  of  youthful  power,  looks  as  though  she  were 
boasting  to  herself  hourly  that  she  is  not  as  are  other  cities. 

And  she  certainly  does  utter  many  such  boasts.  I  do  not 
think  that  I  said  a  pleasant  word  about  the  town  to  any 
inhabitant  of  it  during  my  sojourn  there,  driven  into  silence 
on  the  subject  by  the  calls  which  were  made  upon  me  for 
praise.  "  We  like  to  be  cracked  up,  sir,"  says  the  American. 
I  never  heard  an  American  say  so,  but  such  are  the  words 
which  we  put  into  his  mouth,  and  they  are  true  as  to'  his 
character.  They  are  equally  true  as  to  the  Australian  gene- 
rally, as  to  the  Victorian  specially,  and  as  to  the  citizen 
of  Melbourne  in  a  more  especial  degree.  He  likes  to  be 
"  cracked  up,"  and  he  does  not  hesitate  to  ask  you  to 
"crack  him  up."  He  does  not  proceed  to  gouging  or  bowie 
knives  if  you  decline,  and  therefore  I  never  did  crack 
him  up. 

I  suppose  that  a  young  people  falls  naturally  into  the  fault 
of  self-adulation.  I  must  say  somewhere,  and  may  as  well 
say  here  as  elsewhere,  that  the  wonders  performed  in  the  way 
of  riding,  driving,  fighting,  walking,  working,  drinking,  love- 
making,  and  speech-making,  which  men  and  women  in  Australia 


32  VICTORIA. 

told  me  of  themselves,  would  have  been  worth  recording 
in  a  separate  volume  had  they  been  related  by  any  but  the 
heroes  and  heroines  themselves.  But,  reaching  one  as  they 
did  always  in  the  first  person,  these  stories  were  soon  re- 
ceived as  works  of  a  fine  art  much  cultivated  in  the  colonies, 
for  which  the  colonial  phrase  of  "  blowing"  has  been  created. 
When  a  gentleman  sounds  his  own  trumpet  he  "  blows." 
The  art  is  perfectly  understood  and  appreciated  among  the 
people  who  practise  it.  Such  a  gent'eman  or  such  a  lady 
was  only  "  blowing  ! :'  You  hear  it  and  hear  of  it  every 
clay.  They  blow  a  good  deal  in  Queensland  ; — a  good  deal 
in  South  Australia.  They  blow  even  in  poor  Tasmania. 
They  blow  loudly  in  New  South  Wales,  and  very  loudly  in 
New  Zealand.  But  the  blast  of  the  trumpet  as  heard  in 
Victoria  is  louder  than  all  the  blasts, — and  the  Melbourne 
blast  beats  all  the  other  blowing  of  that  proud  colony.  My 
first,  my  constant,  my  parting  advice  to  my  Australian 
cousins  is  contained  in  two  words — "  Don't  blow." 

But  if  a  man  must  blow  it  is  well  that  he  should  have 
something  to  blow  about  beyond  his  own  prowess,  and  I  do 
not  know  that  a  man  can  have  a  more  rational  source  of 
pride  than  the  well-being  of  the  city  in  which  he  lives.  It 
is  impossible  for  a  man  to  walk  the  length  of  Collins  Street 
up  by  the  churches  and  the  club  to  the  Treasury  Chambers, 
and  then  round  by  the  Houses  of  Parliament  away  into 
Victoria  Parade,  without  being  struck  by  the  grandeur  of 
the  dimensions  of  the  town.  It  is  the  work  of  half  a  morn- 
ing for  an  old  man  to  walk  the  length  of  some  of  the  streets, 
and  to  a  man  who  cannot  walk  well  the  distances  of  Mel- 
bourne soon  become  very  great  indeed.  There  seems  to  be 
this  drawback  upon  noble  streets,  and  large  spaces,  and 
houses  with  comfortable  dimensions,  that  as  the  city  grows 
the  distances  become  immense.  They  are  now  far  longer 
in  Melbourne  with  its  200,000  inhabitants  clustered  toge- 
ther than  in  Glasgow  with  500,000 ;  and  as  the  population 
increases  and  houses  are  added  to  houses,  it  will  become 
impossible  for  pedestrians  to  communicate  unless  they  devote 
the  entire  clay  to  travelling.  There  will,  no  doubt,  be  rail- 
ways about  the  town,  as  there  are  about  London,  but  it 


MELBOURNE.  33 

seems  strange  that  half  a  million  of  people  should  not  be 
able  to  live  together  within  reach  of  each  other. 

The  city,  I  have  said,  is  magnificent, — and  yet  no  street 
in  it  is  finished.  Even  in  Collins  Street  the  houses  stand  in 
gaps.  Here  and  there  are  grand  edifices, — in  the  first  place 
banks,  as  to  which  it  seems  that  in  these  days  grandeur  pays 
as  in  old  days  did  that  quiet,  almost  funereal,  deportment 
which  was  the  characteristic  of  Lombard  Street,  and  is  still 
maintained  by  one  or  two  highly  respectable  London  firms. 
The  banks  in  Melbourne  are  pre-eminent,  and  next  to  them 
the  warehouses  of  ambitious  retail  dealers.  And  there  are 
some  very  handsome  churches, — not  always  built  with  close 
attention  to  the  proprieties  of  church  architecture  as  recog- 
nised by  us,  but  nevertheless  handsome.  Here  and  there 
is  a  grand  public  building, — the  Post  Office  and  the  Town 
Hall  being  very  grand.  There  are  Institutions  of  various 
kinds,  all  having  domiciles  more  or  less  magnificent.  A 
few  private  houses  have  been  built  with  architectural  pre- 
tensions, and  in  this  way  there  is  enough  of  detailed  splen- 
dour to  give  a  character  to  the  streets.  But  no  street  is 
as  yet  splendid  throughout.  In  speaking  of  the  outward 
appearance  of  Melbourne,  I  must  not  forget  the  gutters, 
which  in  rainy  weather  run  down  each  side  of  the  street  like 
little  rivers.  These  are  now  bridged  over  so  constantly 
and  so  well  that  they  offer  practically  but  little  impediment 
to  the  walker.  In  hot  weather  they  often  flow  with  water 
from  the  reservoir,  and  help  to  cool  the  town.  But  in  the 
old  days, — when  the  bridges  were  few  and  far  between,  or 
when  there  were  no  bridges  at  all, — it  used  to  be  a  work  of 
danger  to  get  about.  It  was  then  no  uncommon  thing  to 
hear  that  "another  child"  had  been  drowned  in  Melbourne 
that  morning. 

Though  the  suburbs  of  Melbourne, — such  specially  as 
Collingwood,  Fitzroy,  and  Richmond, — are  in  fact  parts  of 
the  town,  they  seem  to  have  been  built  on  separate  plans, 
and  each  to  have  had  a  ceremonial  act  of  founding  or  settle- 
ment on  its  own  part, — being  in  this  respect  unlike  suburbs, 
which  are  usually  excrescences  upon  a  town,  arising  at  hap- 
hazard as  houses  are  wanted.     But  these  subsidiary  towns 

D 


34  VICTORIA. 

are  all  rectangular  and  parallelogrammic  on  their  own  bottom, 
though  not  rectangular  and  parallelogrammic  in  regard  to 
Melbourne.  If  the  streets  of  the  one  run  from  north  to 
south,  and  from  east  to  west,  the  streets  of  the  other  run 
from  north-east  to  south-west,  and  from  south-east  to  north- 
west. This  seems  to  have  been  of  importance, — and  equally 
so  that  they  should  have  separate  mayors,  separate  town- 
councils,  and  above  all  separate  town-halls.  Collingwood 
has  over  18,000  inhabitants;  Emerald  Hill  over  17,000; 
Richmond  over  16,000;  and  Fitzroy  over  15,000  inhabi- 
tants ;  but  to  the  world  at  large  these  places  are  parts  of 
Melbourne. 

But  the  magnificence  of  Melbourne  is  not  only  external. 
The  city  is  very  proud  of  its  institutions,  and  is  justified  in 
its  pride.  Foremost  among  these,  as  being  very  excellent 
in  the  mode  of  its  administration,  is  the  public  Library.  In 
the  first  place  it  is  open  gratuitously  to  all  the  world,  six 
days  a  week,  from  ten  in  the  morning  till  ten  in  the  evening. 
In  the  second  place,  whatever  the  library  possesses  can  be 
got  by  any  reader  without  trouble.  It  contained  indeed,  in 
1870,  no  more  than  60,000  volumes,  which  to  those  who 
are  accustomed  to  wander  among  the  shelves  of  the  British 
Museum,  or  of  the  Oxford  and  Cambridge  libraries,  does  not 
seem  to  be  a  large  number.  But  the  books  have  been 
selected  for  the  uses  of  the  people,  and  in  such  a  library 
multiplied  editions  are  hardly  necessary.  And  the  too  vast, 
multiplication  of  volumes  leads  to  infinite  difficulty  in  the 
manipulation  of  them.  Here  at  Melbourne  any  man  who  is 
decent  in  his  dress  and  behaviour  can  have  books,  shelter, 
warmth,  chair,  table,  and  light  up  to  ten  at  night,  day  after 
day,  night  after  night,  year  after  year, — and  all  for  nothing.  For 
women,  who  choose  to  be  alone, — and  in  the  colonies  as  in 
the  United  States  it  is  always  presumed  that  women  will 
choose  to  be  alone, — a  separate  room  is  provided.  This  is 
only  beaten  at  Boston,  Massachusetts,  where  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  city  are  allowed  to  take  the  books  home  with 
them. 

Melbourne  also  has  its  University, — which  has  hardly  as 
yet  been  as  successful  as  its  Library ;  though  for  it,  as  for 


MELBOURNE.  35 

that  at  Sydney,  I  do  not  doubt  that  success  will  be  forthcom- 
ing. It  is  at  present  richer  in  the  possession  of  council,  of 
senate,  of  doctors  of  law  and  medicine,  and  in  masters  of 
arts,  than  it  is  in  students.  In  1870  seven  gentlemen  took 
degrees  as  bachelors  of  arts,  the  average  of  ten  years  having 
been  five  in  each  year.  In  1870,  122  students,  in  all, 
attended  lectures, —  a  number  which  is  poor  for  a  university 
with  a  chancellor,  a  vice-chancellor,  a  senate,  four  professors, 
and  nine  other  lecturers.  In  1870  the  government  paid 
,£9,000  towards  the  expenses  of  the  University,  the  college 
fees  amounting  to  no  more  than  ,£2,793  ; — a  pecuniary  result 
which  must  be  acknowledged  to  be  poor  in  so  rich  a  com- 
munity. But  in  considering  all  this  the  nature  of  the  com- 
munity must  be  borne  in  mind,  and  the  fact,  that  though 
education  generally  is  more  desired  by  such  a  people  than  it 
is  in  an  old  country  such  as  ours,  education  of  a  high  order  is 
by  no  means  equally  in  demand.  People  even  who  are  rich 
are  unwilling  to  pay  the  expenses  of  procuring  it  for  their 
children, — an  expense  which  is  not  at  all  in  proportion  with 
their  previous  experience  of  the  cost  of  education.  It  will 
probably  be  acknowledged  that  a  government,  in  such 
circumstances,  is  right  to  support  a  university  among  its 
people  till  the  time  shall  come  in  which  a  class  shall  have 
grown  up  willing  to  support  it  for  themselves. 

The  University  itself  is  a  modest,  pretty  quadrangular 
building,  of  which  three  sides  are  completed,  containing 
simply  the  lecture-rooms  and  library,  and  the  residences  of 
the  professors.  The  fourth  side  will  be  added  as  funds  are 
found.  The  University  itself  does  not  profess  to  provide 
accommodation  for  the  residence  of  scholars.  Attached  to 
it,  however,  is  an  affiliated  institution  called  Trinity  College, 
■ — got  up  in  the  interests  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  I 
believe  I  shall  be  correct  in  saying,  chiefly  by  the  energy  of 
that  most  excellent  of  men,  the  present  bishop.  No  salary 
is  here  provided  by  government  for  a  faineant  Head  of  the 
House,  as  I  found  to  be  the  case  at  Sydney.  When  I  visited 
the  Melbourne  University  in  1872,  there  was  Trinity  College,* 

*  I  have  since  been  much  pleased  at  learning  that  the  affiliated 
college  was  nearly  full. 


36  VICTORIA. 

but  as  yet  there  were  no  collegians.  The  building  had  been 
erected  and  furnished,  and  was  ready  to  take  in  twenty 
students,  at  30^.  a  week  for  board  and  lodging.  Here,  it 
was  hoped,  might  the  future  young  pastors  of  the  Church 
of  England  in  the  colony  receive  their  learning.  Seeing  how 
much  had  been  done  by  how  good  a  man,  I  give  the  new 
college  all  my  best  wishes.  Behind  the  University,  and  in 
the  grounds  belonging  to  it,  stands  the  Museum,  which  is 
open  to  the  public  gratuitously.  I  am  not,  myself,  qualified 
to  speak  of  the  value  of  museums,  but  this  one  seems  to 
have  the  special  and  somewhat  unusual  merit  of  being 
so  arranged  that  its  contents  are  intelligible  to  ordinary 
capacities. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  gardens  of  Melbourne  generally  as 
contributing  largely  to  the  spacious  dimensions  of  the  town ; 
but  I  must  not  omit  to  make  special  mention  of  the  Botani- 
cal Gardens,  and  of  their  learned  curator,  Dr.  Von  Mueller. 
Dr.  Von  Mueller,  who  is  also  a  baron,  a  fellow  of  half  the 
learned  societies  in  Europe,  and  a  Commander  of  the  Order 
of  St.  Jago,  has  made  these  gardens  a  perfect  paradise  of 
science  for  those  who  are  given  to  botany  rather  than  to 
beauty.  I  am  told  that  the  gardens  and  the  gardener,  the 
botany  and  the  baron,  rank  very  highly  indeed  in  the  estima- 
tion of  those  who  have  devoted  themselves  to  the  study  of 
trees,  and  that  Melbourne  should  consider  herself  to  be  rich 
in  having  such  a  man.  But  the  gardens  though  spacious  are 
not  charming,  and  the  lessons  which  they  teach  are  out  of 
the  reach  of  ninety-nine  in  every  hundred.  The  baron  has 
sacrificed  beauty  to  science,  and  the  charm  of  flowers  to 
the  production  of  scarce  shrubs,  till  the  higher  authori- 
ties have  interfered.  When  I  was  at  Melbourne  there 
had  arisen  a  question  whether  there  should  not  be  some 
second  and,  alas  !  rival  head-gardener,  so  that  the  people 
of  Melbourne  might  get  some  gratification  for  their  money. 
The  quarrel  was  running  high  when  I  was  there.  I  can 
only  hope  that  flowers  may  carry  the  day  against  the 
shrubs. 

There  are  no  poor-laws  in  the  colonies,  and  consequently 
no  poor-rates.     Destitute  men  and  women  are  not  entitled  by 


MELBOURNE.  37 

law  to  be  fed  and  boused  at  the  public  expense,  as  they  are  in 
England.  As  far  as  the  law  is  concerned  any  man  who 
cannot  feed  himself  may  lie  down  and  die.  But  such  is  not 
the  result  of  things  as  they  exist.  Poor  and  destitute  there 
are,  though  they  are  very  few  in  number  as  compared  with 
those  among  us  at  home.  Work  is  more  plentiful.  Wages 
are  higher.  Food  is  cheaper.  In  bis  personal  condition 
the  working  man  does  not  stand  always  near  to  the  edge  of 
the  precipice  of  destitution,  as  he  too  frequently  does  in 
Europe.  But  there  are  poor, — both  men  and  women, — and 
for  them  shelter  and  food  are  found,  and  very  many  of  the 
comforts  of  life.  These  are  provided  in  buildings  called 
Benevolent  Asylums,  of  which  there  are  five  in  Victoria, — 
the  largest  establishment  being  in  Melbourne.  Here,  in 
Melbourne,  about  12,000  poor  are  relieved  in  the  course  of 
the  year,  some  using  it  as  a  temporary  refuge  and  some 
living  in  it  altogether.  No  one  is  ever  turned  out ;  nor  does 
there  seem  to  be  any  great  difficulty  in  getting  in  if  the  appli- 
cant be  really  destitute.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  a  very 
small  proportion  of  those  who  apply  for  relief  are  colonial 
born.  The  growth  of  the  colony,  and  the  fact  that  most  of  the 
aged  in  the  country  have  been  immigrants,  will  account  for 
this  in  some  degree.  But  though  Victoria  is  still  growing 
the  colonies  are  old  enough  to  have  produced  destitution  of 
their  own.  In  1870  there  were  11,739  persons  in  the 
Victorian  Benevolent  Asylums,  of  which  but  little  more  than 
a  tenth  were  born  in  the  colony.  This  I  attrioute  to  the 
fact  that  the  generation  born  in  the  colonies  drinks  less  and 
is  more  careful  of  its  means  than  they  who.  go  thither  from 
Europe.  The  theory  of  these  asylums  is  that  they  should 
be  supported  by  voluntary  contribution  with  aid  from  govern- 
ment. The  fact  is  that  they  are  supported  by  government 
with  some  little  aid  from  voluntary  contribution, — and  with 
something  made  by  the  work  of  the  inmates.  In  1870  the 
asylum  at  Melbourne  cost  ,£18,856,  of  which  ,£15,000  were 
paid  by  the  government,  and  but  ,£2,000  by  private 
contributions.  In  Victoria  government  pays  for  every- 
thing; and,  why  should  the  benevolent  contribute  when 
the  thing  is  provided  in  a  different  way?      I  have    said 


38  VICTORIA 

that  there  were  no  poor-rates ; — but  perhaps  it  may  be 
thought  that  the  same  thing  is  effected  when  the  parlia- 
ment makes  a  grant  out  of  the  general  taxes  of  the 
country.  Could  a  pauper  be  suddenly  removed  out  of  an 
English  union  workhouse  into  the  Melbourne  Benevolent' 
Asylum,  he  might  probably  think  that  he  had  migrated  to 
Buckingham  Palace. 

When  giving  a  catalogue  of  the  peculiar  institutions  of 
Melbourne,  I  must  not  omit  "  The  Verandah."  Not  that 
there  is  anything  beautiful  or  grand  about  the  Verandah,  or 
that  it  is  an  institution  of  which  Melbourne  is  inclined  to 
boast.  It  is  one,  however,  which  she  uses  perhaps  with 
more  thorough  devotion  than  all  the  others  put  together. 
The  opportunities  offered  by  it  are  never  neglected  ;  and 
they  who  have  once  tasted  its  charms,  seldom  fail  to  return 
to  them.  "The  Verandah"  is  a  morsel  of  pavement  in 
Collins  Street,  on  which  men  congregate  under  a  balcony, 
and  there  buy  and  sell  gold  shares.  It  is  a  small  Bourse  or 
"  Capel  Court,"  held  out  of  doors,  the  operations  of  which 
are  conducted  with  all  the  broad  daylight  of  the  public 
street  upon  them, — but  not  on  that  account  conducted  with 
any  peculiar  formality  or  reticence.  I  shall,  however,  be 
under  the  necessity  of  speaking  of  "  The  Verandah  "  again 
when  describing  the  gold-fields  of  the  colony  and  the 
operations  which  they  have  produced. 

I  visited  the  Lunatic  Asylum  at  Yarra  Bend, — or  rather 
the  two  lunatic  asylums,  for  there  is  an  old  and  a  new 
establishment  on  opposite  sides  of  the  river  Yarra, — and 
other  hospitals,  and  the  penal  establishment  at  Pentridge 
and  other  gaols.  I  could  tell  how  many  inmates  there 
were  in  each,  and  how  much  each  inmate  cost, — no  doubt 
with  all  that  inaccuracy  which  a  confidence  in  statistics 
customarily  produces.  But  I  doubt  whether  I  should  serve 
or  interest  any  one  by  doing  so.  But  it  may  be  well  to 
express  the  general  conviction  left  on  my  mind  by  all  these 
visitings, — not  only  in  reference  to  Melbourne  and  Victoria, 
but  as  regards  the  colonies  generally, — that  a  care  for  public 
things  predominates  in  them  all.  However  greedy  indivi- 
duals may  be  after  the  wealth  of  each  other,  whatever  fall- 


MELBOURNE.  39 

ings  off  there  may  be  in  individual  morality  and  honesty, 
whatever  lapses  in  individual  honour,  the  care  of  public 
things  is  maintained  throughout  with  an  unspairing  expen- 
diture. In  nothing  is  this  more  conspicuous  than  in  the 
protection  given  to  the  afflicted  by  the  State.  Let  the  cost 
be  what  it  may,  the  poor  are  to  be  taught,  the  needy 
sheltered  and  fed,  and  the  afflicted,  whether  in  mind  or 
body,  relieved  as  far  as  outward  appliances  may  relieve 
them. 

Melbourne  is  the  centre  of  a  series  of  railways  of  which  I 
shall  speak  in  another  chapter,  as  they  belong  to  the  colony 
generally  rather  than  to  the  town ;  but  the  city  has  the 
advantage  of  a  local  line,- — belonging  to  a  private  company 
and  not  worked  by  the  government  as  are  the  colonial  lines 
generally, — which  passes  from  St.  Kilda  and  Emerald  Hill 
on  one  side,  through  Melbourne  to  Richmond,  Prahran, 
Brighton,  and  other  suburbs  on  the  other  side,  which  is  so 
generally  used  that  Melbourne  itself  is  nearly  as  hollow 
as  London.  I  may  almost  say  that  no  one  lives  in  Mel- 
bourne. Of  this,  one  consequence  is  disagreeable.  When 
you  dine  out  you  are  generally  under  the  necessity  of 
returning  by  railway, — which  is  an  abomination.  But  in 
other  respects  the  railway  is  a  great  blessing.  People 
even  of  moderate  means  live  in  the  country  air  and 
have  gardens  and  pleasant  houses.  On  two  sides,  south 
and  east,  Melbourne  is  surrounded  for  miles  by  villa 
residences. 

There  is  now  being  built,  very  close  to  the  town,  a  new 
Government  House,  which  is  intended  to  be  very  magnifi- 
cent. The  governors  who  occupy  it  will  probably  find  it 
by  far  too  much  so.  The  present  house,  which  is  four 
miles  out  of  town,  is  very  much  abused  as  being  inadequate 
to  its  purpose.  It  certainly  is  much  less  grand  than  those 
at  Sydney,  at  Hobart  Town, — which  is  first  among  govern- 
ment houses, — or  even  at  Perth  in  poor  Western  Australia. 
Nevertheless  I  was  present  there  at  a  public  ball,  at  which 
all  Melbourne  was  entertained  with  true  vice-royal  munifi- 
cence. Were  I  appointed  governor  of  a  colony,  I  should 
deprecate  very  much  a  too  palatial  residence,     I  think  it 


40  VICTORIA. 

may  be  admitted  as  a  rule  that  governors  find  it  hard  to 
live  upon  the  salaries  allotted  to  them,  and  generally  do  not 
do  so.  Men  used  to  accept  bishopricks  and  governorships 
with  a  view  to  making  fortunes.  It  is  beginning  to  be 
admitted  now  that  men  with  private  means  are  wanted  for 
both. 

There  is  perhaps  no  town  in  the  world  in  which  an  ordi- 
nary working  man  can  do  better  for  himself  and  for  his 
family  with  his  work  than  he  can  at  Melbourne.  There 
may  be  places  at  which  wages  are  higher,  but  then  at  those 
places  the  necessaries  of  life  are  dearer  and  the  comforts  of 
life  less  easily  attainable.  There  are  others  undoubtedly  at 
which  living  is  cheaper ; — but  there  also  are  wages  lower, 
and  the  means  of  living  less  salutary  and  commodious. 
When  I  left  Melbourne  in  July,  1872,  flour  was  cheaper 
than  in  England.  The  price  of  wheat  was  then  6s.  8d.  a 
bushel  in  the  Melbourne  markets.  Meat  had  risen  greatly 
during  the  last  twelve  months  in  consequence  of  the  in- 
creased exportation  and  the  rise  in  the  price  of  wool,  and 
then  ranged  in  the  city  from  <\d.  to  6d.  the  pound.  Butter 
varied  from  6d.  to  is.  gd.  the  pound ;  potatoes  from  jQt,  to 
^4  the  ton;  eggs  from  lod.  to  2s.  the  dozen;  tea  from 
is.  6d.  to  2S.  6d.  the  pound  ;  coffee  from  is.  to  is.  lod.  a 
pound ;  coals  from  28J.  to  35J.  a  ton.  The  price  of  clothes, 
taken  all  round,  is  I  think  about  20  per  cent,  dearer  than  in 
London.  A  working  man  in  Melbourne  no  doubt  pays 
more  for  his  house  or  for  his  lodgings  than  he  would  in 
London  ;  but  then  in  Melbourne  the  labourer  or  artisan 
enjoys  a  home  of  a  better  sort  than  would  be  within  the 
reach  of  his  brother  in  London  doing  work  of  the  same 
nature,  and  in  regard  to  house-rent  gets  more  for  his  money 
than  he  would  do  at  home.  In  Melbourne  the  wages  of 
artisans  and  mechanics  generally  are  ioj.  a  day.  Such  is 
stated  by  the  registrar  of  the  colony  to  have  been  the 
customary  payment  to  blacksmiths,  carpenters,  masons,  and 
bricklayers  in  1870,  and  I  am  assured  that  there  has  been 
no  reduction  since  that  date.  Gardeners  receive  from  50J. 
to  60s.  a  week,  and  common  labourers  about  36s.  a  week. 
These  men,  so  paid,  are  supposed  to  be  employed  without 


MELBOURNE.  41 

diet, — or  rations,  as  is  the  colonial  phrase.  A  cook  will 
earn  from  ;C35  t0  Po45  a  year  >  laundresses  from  ,£30  to 
,-{'40 ;  other  maid-servants  from  ^20  to  ^30.  The  ordi- 
nary wages  of  a  housemaid,  who  of  course  lives  in  the  house, 
are  10^.  a  week.  Men-servants,  in  the  house,  earn  from 
£40  to  ^55  per  annum. 

There  can  I  think  be  little  doubt  that  the  artisan  with 
^3  a  week,  paying  \d.  a  pound  for  his  meat  and  id.  for  a 
4  lb.  loaf,  may  live  very  plentifully.  He  probably  pays 
about  is.  a  week  for  the  schooling  of  each  of  his  children, 
but  such  is  the  comfort  of  his  condition  that  he  can  do  this 
without  difficulty.  I  would  not  say  to  every  artisan  in  London 
that  he  should  save  his  money  and  pack  up  all  that  he  has, 
and  come  out  to  Melbourne.  Too  often  he  cannot  save 
any  money.  Frequently  he  is  unfit  to  emigrate.  It  is,  too 
generally,  the  case  that  the  man  who  thus  seeks  new  fortunes 
has  to  undergo  some  hardship  before  he  can  find  his  feet  in 
the  country  of  his  adoption.  I  would  not  have  any  one 
believe  that  he  can  enter  in  upon  the  good  things  of  the 
new  world  without  trouble,  without  doubt,  and  without 
delay.  Many  a  poor  fellow  burdened  with  wife  and  family, 
the  best  of  whose  strength  has  gone  from  him  amidst  the 
hardships  of  labour  at  home,  has  been  tempted  to  go  out, 
and  when  there  has  been  unable  to  bear  the  roughness 
of  beginning  and  has  fallen  in  the  struggle.  But  when  the 
first  struggle  is  over,  and  when  the  first  battle  has  been  won, 
the  life  of  the  artisan  there  is  certainly  a  better  life  than  he  can 
find  at  home.  He  not  only  lives  better,  with  more  comfort- 
able appurtenances  around  him,  but  he  fills  a  higher  position 
in  reference  to  those  around  him,  and  has  greater  considera- 
tion paid  to  him,  than  would  have  fallen  to  his  lot  at  home. 
He  gets  a  better  education  for  his  children  than  he  can  in 
England,  and  may  have  a  more  assured  hope  of  seeing  them 
rise  above  himself,  and  has  less  cause  to  fear  that  they  shall 
fall  infinitely  lower.  Therefore  I  would  say  to  any  young 
man  whose  courage  is  high  and  whose  intelligence  is  not 
below  par,  that  he  should  not  be  satisfied  to  remain  at 
home  ;  but  should  come  out, — -to  Melbourne,  if  that  desti- 
nation will  in  other  respects  suit  him  ;  and  try  to  win  a 


43  VICTORIA. 

higli.er  lot  and  a  better  fortune  than  the  old  country  can 
afford  to  give  him. 

But  if  he  take  my  advice  and  then  turn  recreant, — if  he 
become  idle  or  self-indulgent,  or  take  to  drink  and  vicious 
courses  of  pleasure, — then  will  woe  betide  him.  For  the 
fate  of  such  a  one  in  the  colonies  is  worse  even  than  it  is  at 
home. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

BALLAARAT. 

Ballarat,  the  gold-field  city, — or  Ballaarat  as  the  conscien- 
tious orthographists  of  the  district  insist  on  spelling  it, — 
deserves  a  separate  chapter  to  itself.  Not  that  the  two 
towns  of  that  name, — Ballaarat  and  Ballaarat  East, — with 
their  vicinities  comprise  now — a.d.  1873 — the  most  pro- 
ductive gold-fields  of  Australia,  as  they  are  beaten  by  those 
of  Sandhurst ;  but  that  the  place  has  been  more  noticeable 
than  any  other  in  the  history  of  Australian  gold,  and  more 
productive,  taking  its  history  back  to  the  time  when  gold 
was  first  discovered  there  in  185 1. 

That  was  the  great  year  of  the  discovery  of  Australian 
gold.  I  am  not  going  into  the  deeply  discussed  question  of 
the  merits  of  this  or  that  discoverer, — as  to  which  jealousy 
is  still  rife  both  in  New  South  Wales  and  Victoria.  Taking 
the  belief  which  I  now  find  to  be  the  most  common  in  the 
colonies,  I  may  say  that  Sir  Roderick  Murchison  and  Count 
Strzelecki  both  foretold  the  finding  of  Australian  gold, 
basing  their  opinion  on  the  geographical  condition  of  the 
country ;  that  Hargreaves,  acting  with  others,  first  struck 
gold  at  Ophir  in  New  South  Wales  ;  and  that  gold  was  first 
discovered,  in  Victoria,  at  Clunes,  some  few  miles  from  the 
present  city  of  Ballaarat.  I  will  not  venture  to  say  who  was 
the  first  discoverer,  but  a  miner  named  Esmond  was  re- 
warded for  the  discovery.  In  New  South  Wales  gold  was 
declared  to  be  found  in  April,  185 1,  and  at  Clunes  in  July, 
1 85 1,  so  that  the  interval  between  the  two  colonies  was 
very  small, 


44  VICTORIA. 

But,  in  regard  to  the  discovery  at  Ciunes,  I  think  it  is  not 
to  be  doubted  that  gold  was  in  fact  found  there  eighteen 
months  before  it  was  declared.  The  date  usually  given  as 
that  of  Esmond's  discovery  is  July,  1851, — that  being  the 
very  month  in  which  the  government  of  the  new  colony  of 
Victoria  commenced. 

Both  Hargreaves  and  Esmond  had  been  gold-seekers  in 
California,  and  were  led  to  their  discoveries  by  observation 
rather  than  by  chance.  There  is,  I  believe,  no  doubt  that 
gold  had  been  found  by  chance  previous  to  the  discoveries 
of  Hargreaves  and  Esmond, — but  the  finding  of  it  had  not 
led  to  great  public  results.  Both  Hargreaves  and  Esmond 
were  rewarded. 

Ciunes  is  about  16  miles  from  Ballaarat,  but  the  richness 
of  the  Ballaarat  gold-fields  soon  followed  the  first  discovery 
at  Ciunes.  I  am  aware  that  I  shall  tread  on  very  dangerous 
ground  indeed  if  I  assign  either  names  or  dates  to  the  first 
movement  of  the  soil  at  Golden  Point,  which  is  now  built 
over  by  the  present  town, — Ballaarat  East.  But  before  the 
end  of  1 85 1  the  rush  to  Ballaarat  was  an  established  thing, 
and  whole  streets  of  canvas  tents  were  covering  crowds  of 
miners.  We  are  told  that  men  flocked  to  the  place  at  the 
rate  of  500  a  day, — for  whom  no  preparation  had  been 
made,  no  shelter  built,  no  food  brought  together,  no  local 
laws  enacted,  no  powers  to  enforce  the  laws  existing.  Its 
too  great  prosperity,  its  prospect  of  immediate  and  appa- 
rently unlimited  wealth,  was  for  a  time  more  than  the  colony 
could  bear.  The  minds  of  men  were  so  disturbed  that  no 
man  would  remain  at  any  old  employment.  Servants  were 
out  of  the  question.  Shearers  would  not  shear  sheep  unless 
they  could  earn  their  £6  or  ^7  a  day.  Gold  commis- 
sioners with  their  clerks,  police  magistrates  and  policemen, 
were  indispensable  ;  but  who  would  be  a  clerk,  or  a  police- 
man,— who  even  a  magistrate  or  a  commissioner, — when 
gold  could  be  washed  out  of  the  dirt  at  the  rate  of  ten 
ounces  a  day  to  each  happy  miner  ?  Food  rose  to  incredible 
prices, — but  then  it  was  almost  matter  of  indifference  to  a 
man  whether  he  gave  a  shilling  or  a  sovereign  for  his  meal. 
The  young  government  was  almost  beside  itself, — and  letters 


BALLAARAT.  45 

full  of  frantic  questions,  eager  fears,  ambitious  hopes,  and 
almost  despair,  must  have  reached  our  Colonial  Office  at 
home  by  every  mail.  To  whom  did  the  gold  belong  ?  If 
to  the  Crown,  how  should  the  Crown  use  and  how  protect 
its  rights?  In  what  way  might  this  new  wealth  be  turned 
to  account,  so  that  the  colony  at  large  might  enjoy  the  pros- 
perity? Might  any  man  dig  where  he  pleased, — and  if  so, 
how  should  he  be  protected  in  his  digging?  AVhat  should 
be  his  rights,  and  what  his  limits,  and  how  should  he  be 
made  to  pay  for  the  now  to  him  inestimable  blessing  of 
protection  ? 

It  was  at  first  decreed  that  a  miner  should  pay  a  fee  of 
30J-.  a  month  for  a  licence  to  dig.  This  was  very  shortly 
raised  to  ^3  a  month,  though  that  amount  was  in  truth 
never  collected.  The  idea  of  charging  a  miner  ^36  a  year 
for  the  privilege  of  digging  arose  from  the  desire  to  prevent 
all  the  labour  of  the  colony  from  throwing  itself  into  the  one 
employment.  But  the  outcry  was  so  great  that  it  was  again 
fixed  at  30^.  In  October,  1854,  the  charge  for  a  miner's 
licence  was  £2  for  three  months.  In  the  colony  of  Vic- 
toria the  licence  now  costs  5-r.  a  year.  But  the  system  of 
licensing — of  charging  diggers  even  ^18  per  annum  for  the 
privilege  of  mining — was  not  received  with  ready  submis- 
sion, and  the  money  was  collected  with  infinite  difficulty. 
Recusant  diggers  were  hunted  down  by  armed  police ;  men 
refused  to  pay]  indignation  meetings  were  held; — and  at 
length  something  like  war  broke  out  at  Ballaarat.  This  was 
in  December,  1854, — when  Sir  Charles  Hotham  was  gover- 
nor, and  about  twelve  months  before  his  death.  The  dig- 
gers entrenched  themselves  on  the  gold-fields  in  a  place  that 
was  called  the  Eureka  Stockade.  Here  they  were  attacked  by 
night,  and  thirty  of  them  were  killed.  The  ringleaders  were 
afterwards  tried  and  acquitted, — and  so  the  war  was  brought 
to  an  end.  But  in  those  days  there  was  certainly  much 
difficulty  in  governing  the  colony,  and  in  bringing  into 
order  a  new  state  of  things.  It  seemed  for  a  time  as  though 
the  very  wealth  of  the  soil  would  prove  the  ruin  of  the 
country. 

Now  it  might  be  difficult  to  find  a  more  quiet  town  than 


46  VICTORIA. 

Ballaarat,  as  it  certainly  would  be  to  find  one  of  the  same1 
age  better  built  and  more  lavishly  provided  with  all  the 
appurtenances  which  municipalities  require.  It  is  certainly 
a  most  remarkable  town.  It  struck  me  with  more  surprise 
than  any  other  city  in  Australia.  It  is  not  only  its  youth, 
for  Melbourne  also  is  very  young  ;  nor  is  it  the  population 
of  Ballaarat  which  amazes,  for  it  does  not  exceed  a 
quarter  of  that  of  Melbourne;  but  that  a  town  so  well 
built,  so  well  ordered,  endowed  with  present  advantages 
so  great  in  the  way  of  schools,  hospitals,  libraries,  hotels, 
public  gardens,  and  the  like,  should  have  sprung  up  so 
quickly  with  no  internal  advantages  of  its  own  other  than 
that  of  gold.  The  town  is  very  pleasant  to  the  sight,  which 
is,  perhaps,  more  than  can  be  said  for  any  other  "  pro- 
vincial "  town  in  the  Australian  colonies.  When  the  year 
185 1  commenced,  Ballaarat  was  an  unknown  name  except 
perhaps  here  and  there  to  a  few  shepherds.  These  words 
are  written  in  the  house  of  Messrs.  Learmonth, — younger 
men  than  I,  and  therefore  not  old  men  to  me, — who  were 
the  first  pioneers  in  the  country,  and  who  ran  the  sheep 
which  they  brought  with  them  from  Van  Diemen's  Land 
over  the  hills  adjacent  to  Ballaarat.  They  have  given  way 
to  the  gold-seekers,  and,  establishing  themselves  far  enough 
from  mines  for  rural  serenity  and  pastoral  comfort,  are 
regarded  as  the  territorial  aristocrats  of  the  district.  Breath- 
ing their  air  and  listening  to  their  ideas,  one  feels  as  one 
does  in  the  almost  feudal  establishment  of  some  great  Eng- 
lish squire,  who  watches  with  a  regret  he  cannot  quite  repress 
the  daily  encroachments  made  upon  his  life  by  the  approach- 
ing hordes  of  some  large  neighbouring  town. 

Ballaarat  has  no  navigable  river.  It  is  seventy  or  eighty 
miles  from  any  possibility  of  sea-carriage.  The  land  imme- 
diately around  it  is  not  fertile.  It  is  high  above  the  sea-level, 
and  runs  in  gentle  hills  which  twenty  years  since  were  thinly 
covered  with  gum-trees  ;  and  here  wandered  the  flocks  of  a 
few  patriarch  pioneers.  Then  came  first  one  or  two  rough 
seekers  after  gold,  then  half-a-dozen,  then  a  score,  then  a 
rush, — and  Ballaarat  was  established  as  one  among  the  few 
great  golden  cities  of  the  young  world.     I  do  not  think 


BALLAARAT.  47 

that  there  is  any  city  equal  to  it  that  has  sprung  from  gold 
alone. 

I  myself  believe  in  cities, — even  though  there  should  be 
place  in  them  for  dishonest  ambition,  short-sighted  policy, 
and  rowdiness.  The  dishonesty,  the  folly,  and  the  rowdiness 
are  but  the  overboiling  of  the  pot  without  which  cannot  be 
had  the  hot  water  which  is  so  necessary  to  our  well-being.  I 
heard  much  abuse  of  Ballaarat  from  Ballaaratters.  There 
are  three  towns  conjoined,  Ballaarat,  Ballaarat  East,  and 
Sebastopol,  with  three  town-halls,  three  municipalities,  and 
the  like.  The  smaller  towns  will  not  consent  to  merge 
themselves.  There  are  in  them  men  of  obstruction,  and 
things  cannot  be  done  as  they  should  be  done.  Money  is 
wasted ;  municipal  funds  are  expended  foolishly, — perhaps 
fraudulently  on  an  occasion.  If  this  class  would  only  see 
with  the  eyes  of  that  class,  what  a  paradise  it  might  be  ! 
But  they  see  with  quite  other  eyes, — and  what  a  pande- 
monium it  is  becoming.  So  say  the  men  of  Ballaarat.  Trade 
is  going  to  the  dogs,  because  there  is  not  sufficient  protection; 
— or  else  because  a  tariff  of  20  per  cent,  on  all  imported 
goods,  levied  in  accordance  with  the  wisdom  of  certain 
ministers  is  destroying  all  trade  by  raising  the  price  of  bad 
goods  and  driving  serviceable  goods  out  of  the  market.  No 
words  which  can  here  be  used  are  strong  enough  to  describe 
the  iniquity  which  some  MacEvoy  attributes  to  some 
O'Brien,  or  some  Murphy  to  some  Jones  or  Smith.  Popu- 
lation is  falling  off,  so  that  shortly  Ballaarat  will  be  as  a  city 
of  the  dead.  Such  are  the  accounts  a  stranger  hears  either 
from  this  side  or  from  that.  One  gentleman,  who  certainly 
was  very  much  in  the  dark  as  to  the  statistics  of  his  town, 
assured  me  that  20,000  people  had  gone  out  of  Ballaarat  in 
two  years.  Another  was  angry  with  me  because  I  hesitated 
to  believe  that  the  place  was  ruined.  I  was  assured  that  I 
might  hire  1,500  vacant  houses  at  an  hour's  notice  if  I 
wanted  them.  As  for  gold  at  Ballaarat,  everybody  knew 
that  that  game  had  been  played  out ! 

Such  were  the  records  of  some  men.  As  far  as  the  eye 
went,  I  saw  nothing  but  prosperity.  Here  I  found  that 
most  of  the  mines  were  worked  by  companies  at  wages  paid 


48  Victoria. 

to  the  men, — -and  that  a  miner's  wages  averaged  from  40s. 
to  48s.  a  week, — the  man  working  eight  hours  a  day,  and 
thus  reaching  that  acme  of  the  workman's  bliss — 


Js 


"  Eight  hours  for  work,  and  eight  for  play, 
Eight  for  sleep,  and  eight  shillings  a  day." 

And  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  the  comforts,  are  at  any  rate 
as  cheap  at  Ballaarat  as  they  are  in  England,  in  spite  of 
protective  duties.  Meat  was  about  2\d.  a  pound,  and  for 
nothing  did  the  workmen  of  Ballaarat  pay  more  than  his 
brother  in  England,  unless  it  be  for  clothes,  for  house-rent, 
— and  strong  drinks,  if  he  be  that  way  given.  Wages  for  all 
work  are  high  in  proportion.  In  rural  labour  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood the  firmer  pays  2 ox.  a  week  and  rations,  and  at 
harvest-time  must  pay  double  that  amount.  Female  servants 
in  houses  get  \2s.  a  week, — or  above  ,£30  per  annum. 

Houses  no  doubt  have  been  built  too  quickly, — as  is 
always  found  to  be  the  case  when  some  check  comes  to  the 
rising  population  of  young  towns.  Such  check  had  reached 
Ballaarat  when  I  was  there, — the  rush  for  the  time  being  to 
the  gold-fields  of  Sandhurst ;  and  newly  built  houses  were  to 
be  seen  empty.  "  There's  a  '  spec '  that  won't  answer,"  said 
a  gentleman  to  me,  pointing  to  a  row  of  houses  just  finished, 
but  which  from  end  to  end  showed  no  sign  of  habitation. 
In  two  years'  time  some  great  quartz-crushing  operation  will 
probably  have  been  commenced  ;  and  the  then  owner  of  the 
row, — for  the  unfortunate  first  speculator  will  no  doubt  have 
been  sold  out  by  his  assignees, — will  be  making  30  per  cent, 
on  his  money. 

There  may  be  rowdiness,  dishonesty  and  all  other  civic 
sins  in  the  manipulation  of  the  municipal  powers  of  Ballaarat 
and  other  Australian  cities  ; — but  as  a  rule  the  things  which 
a  city  requires  are  there.  At  Ballaarat  this  is  conspicuously 
the  case.  The  hospital  has  more  wards  than  it  uses,  and 
more  funds  than  it  needs.  As  regards  internal  cleanliness 
and  sweetness,  and  external  prettiness,  it  is  perfect.  The 
Benevolent  Institution, — which  does  the  work  that  a  poor- 
house  does  with  us, — gives  either  out-door  relief  or  in-door 
shelter  and  sustenance  to  all  who  cannot  support  themselves. 


BALLAARAt.  49 

Such  sustenance  in  Ballaarat — as  indeed  at  all  such  institu- 
tions in  Victoria— includes  a  thoroughly  good  dinner  of 
meat  and  vegetables  every  day,  with  tea  for  breakfast  and 
tea  for  "  tea."  It  includes  a  bed  perfectly  clean,  sitting- 
room,  books,  newspapers,  comfortable  clothes,  and  a  garden 
to  walk  in  infinitely  superior  to  that  enjoyed  by  many  com- 
fortable folk  at  home.  Ballaarat  has  a  public  library,  free  to 
all  the  city, — and  a  mechanics'  institute,  with  newspapers 
and  privileges,  at^i  a  head.  It  has  indeed  every  munici- 
pal luxury  that  can  be  named,  including  a  public  garden  full 
of  shrubs  and  flowers,  and  a  lake  of  its  own, — Lake  Wen- 
douree, — with  a  steamer  and  row-boats  and  regattas.  It  has 
a  cricket-ground,  and  athletic  games  ;  and  it  has  omnibuses 
and  cabs,  which  by  their  cleanliness  and  general  excellence 
make  a  Londoner  blush.  For  the  privilege  of  seeing  all 
these  things  with  ease  and  comfort,  and  for  much  steady 
information,  without  exaggeration  either  on  one  side  or  the 
other,  I  have  to  thank  that  best  of  all  mayors,  Mr.  R.  Lewes, 
who  reigned  at  Ballaarat  at  the  time  of  my  visit. 

But  as  yet  I  have  said  nothing  of  the  gold-mines  which 
have  made  Ballaarat  what  it  is.  Among  Victorian  gold-fields 
it  is  famous  for  alluvial  dirt  to  be  washed, — not  for  quartz  to 
be  crushed,  as  is  the  case  with  its  rival  town  of  Sandhurst, 
of  which  I  shall  speak  in  the  next  chapter.  But  the  reader 
must  not  therefore  suppose  that  Ballaarat  is  a  place  of  mere 
surface  scratching,  an  agglomeration  of  gullies  from  which 
the  mud  is  shovelled  into  cradles,  a  congregation  of  "fos- 
sickers  " — men  who  search  about,  picking  and  washing  a  bit 
of  earth  here  and  a  bit  there,  or  upper-air  miners  who  know 
nothing  of  large  operations.  The  alluvial  dirt  which  pro- 
duces the  greater  portion  of  the  wealth  of  Ballaarat  has  not 
only  to  be  brought  up  many  hundred  feet  from  under  the 
surface,  but  it  has  to  be  sought  for  through  underground 
passages  thousands  of  feet  in  length,  and  has  to  be  fol- 
lowed up  by  geological  deductions  which  too  often  fail  in 
their  promises. 

I  went  down  one  such  mine  called  "  AVinter's  Freehold," 
descending  450  feet  in  an  iron  cage.  I  was  then  taken 
4,000  feet  along  an  underground  tramway  in  a  truck  drawn 

E 


$o  VICTORIA. 

by  a  horse.  At  the  end  of  that  journey  I  was  called  upon 
1o  mount  a  perpendicular  ladder  about  20  feet  high,  and 
was  then  led  along  another  tramway  running  apparently  at 
right  angles  to  the  first.  From  this  opened  out  the  cross 
passages  in  which  the  miners  were  at  work.  Here  we  saw 
the  loose  alluvial  grit,  so  loose  that  a  penknife  would  remove 
it,  lying  on  the  solid  rock, — on  it  and  under  it, — to  the 
breadth  I  was  told  of  some  four  feet ;  for  though  I  saw 
the  bottom  of  the  grit,  where  it  lay  on  its  bed,  I  could 
not  see  the  top  where  it  was  covered.  Here  and  there 
among  the  grit,  with  candle  held  up,  and  some  experienced 
miner  directing  my  eye,  I  could  see  the  minute  specs  of 
gold,  in  search  of  which  these  vast  subterranean  tunnels  had 
been  made.  It  seemed  to  be  but  a  speck  here  and  there, 
— so  inconsiderable  as  to  be  altogether  unworth  the  search. 
But  the  mining  men  who  were  with  us,  the  manager,  deputy- 
manager,  or  shareholders, — for  on  such  occasions  one 
hardly  knows  who  are  the  friends  who  accompany  one, — 
expressed  themselves  highly  satisfied. 

I  was  told  that  ^150,000  had  been  expended  on  this 
single  mine  up  to  the  present  time,  and  that  the  machinery 
was  the  finest  in  the  colony.  Perhaps  the  finest  machinery 
in  the  colony  may  be  seen  at  more  than  one  mine  in  the 
colony.  But  I  was  informed  that  hitherto  the  results  had 
not  been  magnificent.  There  was,  however,  a  good  time 
coming,  and  all  the  money  expended  would  certainly  come 
back  with  copious  interest.  I  hope  that  it  may  be  so.  We 
were  two  hours  in  seeing  the  mine, — and  I  must  say  that  as 
regards  immediate  enjoyment  the  two  hours  were  not  well 
spent.  The  place  was  wet  and  dirty  and  dark,  the  progress 
was  tedious,  and  the  result  to  the  eye  very  poor.  But  such 
is  the  result  to  all  amateur  inspectors  of  mines.  When  we 
had  extricated  ourselves  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth  we 
ascended  to  a  platform  on  the  top  of  the  machinery,  to 
which  the  wash-dirt  is  carried  that  it  may  there  be  puddled 
and  the  gold  extracted.  The  height  enables  the  water  and 
mud  to  iun  off.  The  dirt  is  placed  in  a  round  flat  recep- 
tacle or  trough,  into  which  water  runs,  and  an  instrument 
somewhat  like  a  harrow  is  worked  through  it.   The  water  and 


fcALLAARAT.  $t 

mud  are  amalgamated,  and  the  height  enables  them  to  run  off 
together.  The  gold  by  its  own  weight  falls  to  the  bottom 
mixed  with  stones  or  shingle.  This  is  afterwards  sent  down 
to  an  open  spout  below,  through  which  water  runs,  a  man 
the  while  working  it  with  a  fork  prepared  for  the  purpose. 
Again  the  stones  and  mud  pass  off  with  the  water,  and 
again  the  gold  remains  behind,  sinking  to  the  bottom  by  its 
own  weight.  When  all  has  escaped  that  will  escape,  and 
the  stones  that  will  not  fall  have  been  thrown  out,  then  the 
specks  of  gold  are  seen  lying  thick,  collected  in  the  little 
furrows  which  are  marked  on  the  bottom  of  the  spout.  To 
the  uninitiated  eye  the  product  of  all  this  costly  labour  still 
seems  to  be  small. 

After  all  this  the  gold  is  smelted  into  bars  and  sold  to 
the  merchants  or  bankers.  We  went  to  the  offices  of 
another  company, — the  Band  of  Hope  and  Albion  Consols, 
—to  see  the  smelting.  In  this  operation  there  is  nothing 
wonderful.  The  small  gold — for  it  is  all  small  in  compari- 
son with  the  nuggets  of  which  we  have  heard  so  much  and 
which  are  now  very  rare  in  Australia — is  poured  into  an 
earthen  pot,  is  melted,  is  poured  out  into  moulds,  is  then 
washed  so  that  it  may  have  a  clean  face,  and  is  straightway 
sent  to  the  bank.  At  present  the  greater  part  of  the  gold 
found  at  Ballaarat  when  thus  prepared  is  worth  something 
over  £4  an  ounce.  At  this  Band  of  Hope  mine  they  raise 
about  3,000  ounces  of  gold  a  month,  at  an  expense  of 
about  half  its  value.  The  other  half  is  divided  among  the 
shareholders,  and  gives  an  average  interest  of  ^12  15.C  per 
cent,  on  the  capital  expended  on  the  work.  This,  in  a 
business  subject  to  great  risk,  with  bank  interest  at  8  and  9 
per  cent,  does  not  seem  to  be  a  very  rich  result. 

We  also  saw  a  quartz-crushing  machine  at  work, — for 
quartz  is  raised  at  Ballaarat,  though  in  much  less  quantity 
than  the  wash-dirt.  The  nature  of  a  quartz-crusher  I  have 
described  in  speaking  of  Gympie,  the  great  Queensland 
gold-field.  In  Victoria,  as  I  have  said,  Sandhurst  is  the 
great  quartz  district ; — but  there  are  sanguine  people  who 
predict  a  vast  wealth  of  quartz  reefs  at  Ballaarat  after  the 
wash-dirt  has  been  all  extracted. 


CHAPTER  V- 

BENDIGO  OR    SANDHURST. 

Having  thus  described  Ballaarat,  which  in  point  of  archi- 
tectural excellence  and  general  civilised  city  comfort  is  at 
present  certainly  the  metropolis  of  the  Australian  gold- 
fields,  I  should  lay  myself  open  to  charges  of  gross  partiality 
if  I  omitted  to  give  some  account  of  Sandhurst, — which 
intends  to  surpass  Ballaarat,  and  to  become  mightier  and 
more  world-famous  than  that  very  mighty  and  world-famous 
place.  I  do  not  pretend  to  say  what  may  be  the  result  of 
the  race. 

My  readers  have,  no  doubt,  heard  of  the  Bendigo  gold- 
fields.  I  think  it  by  no  means  improbable  that  some  of 
them, — in  England, — may  never  have  heard  the  name  of 
Sandhurst  as  connected  with  gold.  I  had  not  done  so 
when  I  first  landed  in  Australia,  though  I  had  been  often 
told  of  Bendigo,  having  some  hazy  idea  that  the  place  had 
called  itself  after  a  prize-fighter,  and  therefore  must  be  a 
very  rowdy  place  indeed.  I  imagine  that  some  such  feeling 
must  have  been  predominant  with  the  people  of  the  place 
when  Bendigo,  as  a  name,  was  dropped,  and  Sandhurst, — ■ 
which  is  not  only  euphonious,  but  which  carries  with  it  also 
a  certain  mixed  idea  of  youthful  energy  and  military  disci- 
pline,— was  chosen  in  its  stead.  Sandhurst  means  to  go 
ahead,  and  become  a  great  city.  In  regard  to  the  produc- 
tion of  gold  it  has  gone  very  much  ahead.  As  a  city,  when 
I  was  there,  it  was  neither  handsome  nor  commodious.  It 
had  the  appearance,  which  is  common  to  all  new  mining 
towns,  of  having  been   scratched   up   violently  out  of  the 


SANDHURST.  53 

body  of  the  earth  by  the  rake  of  some  great  infernal  deity, 
who  had  left  everything  behind  him  dirty,  uncouth,  barren, 
and  disorderly !  Any  one  who  has  seen  the  mining  towns 
as  they  rose  in  Cornwall  and  Glamorganshire  must  have 
observed  the  same  ugliness.  At  Sandhurst  you  see  heaps 
of  upturned  dry  soil  here  and  there,  dislocated  whims,  rows 
of  humble  houses  built  just  as  they  were  wanted,  shops 
with  gewgaw  fronts  put  up  at  a  moment's  notice,  drinking- 
bars  in  abundance,  here  and  there  an  attempt  at  architecture, 
made  almost  invariably  by  some  banking  company  eager  to 
push  itself  into  large  operations  ; — but  with  it  all  a  look  of 
eager,  keen  energy  which  would  redeem  to  the  mind  the 
hideous  objects  which  meet  the  eye,  were  it  not  that  the 
mind  becomes  conscious  of  the  too-speculative  nature  of  the 
work  done, — of  the  gambling  propensities  of  the  people 
around, — and  is  driven  to  feel  that  the  buying  and  selling 
of  mining  shares  cannot  be  done  by  yea,  yea,  and  nay,  nay. 
In  Melbourne  there  is  the  "verandah;" — in  Sandhurst 
there  is  a  "  verandah  ;"  in  Ballaarat  there  is  a  "  verandah." 
The  verandah  is  a  kind  of  open  exchange, — some  place  on 
the  street  pavement  apparently  selected  by  chance,  on  which 
the  dealers  in  mining  shares  do  congregate.  What  they  do, 
or  how  they  carry  on  their  business  when  there,  I  am  unable 
to  explain.  But  to  the  stranger,  or  the  passer  by,  they  do 
not  look  lovely.  He  almost  trembles  lest  his  eyes  should  be 
picked  out  of  his  head  as  he  goes.  He  has  no  business 
there,  and  soon  learns  to  walk  on  the  other  side  of  the 
road.  And  he  hears  strange  tales  which  make  him  feel 
that  the  innocence  of  the  dove  would  not  befriend  him  at 
all  were  he  to  attempt  to  trade  in  those  parts.  I  think 
there  is  a  racing  phrase  as  to  "  getting  a  tip."  The  happy 
man  who  gets  a  tip  learns  something  special  as  to  the  com- 
petence or  incompetence  of  a  horse.  There  are  a  great 
many  tips  in  gold  mines  which  fall  into  the  fortunate  hands 
of  those  who  attend  most  closely,  and  perhaps  with  most 
unscrupulous  fidelity,  to  the  business  of  the  verandahs. 
The  knowing  ones  know  that  a  certain  claim  is  going  to 
give  gold.  The  man  who  has  the  tip  sells  out  at  a  low 
price, — sells  out  a  certain  number  of  shares,  probably  to  a 


54  VICTORIA. 

friend  who  holds  the  tip  with  him.  The  price  is  quoted  on 
the  share  list,  and  the  unfortunate  non-tipped  sell  out  also, 
and  the  fortunate  tipped  one  buys  up  all.  A  claim  is  not 
going  to  give  gold, — and  the  reverse  happens.  Or  a  claim 
is  salted  ; — gold  is  surreptitiously  introduced,  is  then  taken 
out,  and  made  the  base  of  a  fictitious  prosperity.  The 
tipped  ones  sell,  and  the  untipped  buy.  It  is  easy  to  see 
that  the  game  is  very  pretty ;  but  then  it  is  dangerous.  It 
has  certainly  become  very  popular.  One  is  told  at  Mel- 
bourne that  all  are  playing  at  it, — clergymen,  judges,  ladies, 
old  ladies  and  young,  married  ladies  and  single, — old  men 
and  boys,  fathers  unknown  to  their  sons,  and  sons  unknown 
to  their  fathers,  mothers  unknown  to  their  daughters, 
daughters  unknown  to  their  mothers, — masters  and  servants, 
tradesmen  and  their  apprentices.  "  You  shall  go  from  one 
end  of  Collins  Street  to  another,"  a  man  said  to  me,  "  and 
you  will  hardly  meet  one  who  has  not  owned  a  share  or  a 
part  of  a  share."  Gold-mining  in  Victoria  is  as  was  to  us 
the  railway  mania  some  twenty-four  years  ago.  Melbourne 
no  doubt  is  the  centre  of  the  trade  in  shares,  but  low 
beneath  the  surface  in  the  mines  of  Sandhurst  lie  the  hearts 
of  the  gold-gamblers. 

At  Ballaarat  the  chief  produce  of  gold  is  still  obtained  from 
alluvial  dirt, — from  dirt  which  is  indeed  extracted  by  deep 
working  out  of  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and  not,  as  at  first, 
from  the  channels  of  rivers  and  the  crevices  of  mountain 
gullies, — but  still  from  alluvial  dirt,  which,  when  extracted, 
is  washed.  The  gold  remains  after  the  washing  and  then 
the  operation  is  at  an  end.  At  Sandhurst  the  gold  is  got 
by  quartz-crushing.  The  gold-bearing  rock  is  brought  up  in 
great  masses, — thousands  and  thousands  of  tons  of  stone, 
which  is  called  quartz.  This  is  crushed  by  huge  machinery, 
and  the  gold  is  separated  from  the  dirt  by  the  use  of  quick- 
silver and  water.  The  washing  of  alluvial  soil  is  the  readier 
way  of  getting  gold,  but  the  quartz-crushing  is  the  more 
important.  Of  the  alluvial  dirt  there  must,  or  at  any  rate 
there  may,  soon  be  an  end.  The  geologists  say  that  the 
crushers  of  quartz  may  cat  up  whole  mountains,  and  still  go 
on  finding  stone  that  will  give  gold.     Looking  at  a  table 


SANDHURST.  55 

now  before  me  as  to  quartz  crushed  at  Sandhurst  in  1871,  I 
find  that  2  oz.  14  dwt.  to  the  ton  of  quartz  was  the  highest 
amount  extracted,  and  that  4  dwt.  to  the  ton  is  the  lowest 
quant  it)-  there  quoted.  The  proportion  that  will  pay  depends 
of  course  on  the  amount  of  outlay.  Some  of  the  gold- 
bearing  stone  is  brought  up  800  feet,  and  some  only  100. 
In  some  mines  the  levels  and  cross-cuts  and  underground 
passages  are  worked  for  long  distances,  perhaps  for  a  mile, 
without  gold.  In  others  the  gold  is  struck  at  once.  It  is 
impossible,  therefore,  to  say  what  proportion  will  pay ;  but 
it  is  certain  that  in  many  mines  half  an  ounce,  or  two 
sovereigns,  to  a  ton  of  rock  will  pay  well.  It  is  on  record 
that  250  oz.  of  gold  were  extracted  on  the  Bendigo  gold- 
fields  from  one  ton  of  stone, — fifteen  years  ago.  But  the 
great  glory  of  Sandhurst  was  reached,  when  an  average  of 
9  oz.  per  ton  was  extracted  from  264  tons  of  quartz,  taken 
from  "  The  Great  Extended  Hustler's  mine." 

I  venture  to  extract  a  quotation  from  a  published  "  Digest 
of  the  Dividend-Paying  Companies  of  the  Bendigo  Gold- 
Fields,"  which  is.  now  before  me, — given  in  the  shape  of  a 
note, — because  it  purports  to  be  a  record  of  the  greatest 
event  of  the  year  187 1. 

"  Note. — On  October  18th,  the  greatest  event  of  the  year's  quartz- 
mining  occurred.  For  some  days  previously  the  gathering  of  the 
Extended  Hustler's  Tribute  amalgam  created  much  interest  in  mining 
circles ;  6,400  oz.  aggregate  of  amalgam  was  reached  when  the  com- 
pany proceeded  to  retort,  and  betting,  except  with  those  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  nature  of  the  stone,  was  in  favour  of  over  3,000  oz. 
of  gold.  A  little  after  7  p.m.  of  the  18th  the  Oriental  Bank  solved  all 
doubts  by  exhibiting  the  Tribute  Company's  cake  of  2,564  oz.,  and 
shortly  afterwards  the  Great  Extended  Hustler's  Tribute  declared  the 
largest  dividend  ever  paid  on  Sandhurst, — 6s.  6d.  per  share,  equal  to 
^9,100.  The  yield  was  obtained  from  264  tons,  reef  18  feet  thick, 
average  9  oz.  per  ton." 

I  saw  this  interesting  cake  at  the  Oriental  Bank  in  Mel- 
bourne, on  which  occasion  the  manager  kindly  offered  to 
give  it  to  me  on  condition  that  I  should  carry  it  away. 

All  prosperous  trades  have  a  slang  of  their  own, — certain 
terms  used  to  keep  outsiders  at  a  distance,  and  to  create 
that  feeling  of  esoteric  privilege  which  we  all  like  to  have  in 


56  VICTORIA. 

regard  to  matters  which  we  think  we  understand.  A  man 
who  only  uses  horses  can  never  talk  in  professional  language 
to  a  man  who  breeds  them  and  deals  in  them  and  lives  with 
them.  A  layman  in  politics,  let  him  be  ever  so  anxious  for 
his  country,  is  all  abroad  when  conversing  with  a  member 
of  parliament  about  bills  and  acts,  about  notices  of  motion 
and  "  the  previous  question."  It  is  very  much  so  with 
mining.  Everything  is  told  to  the  visiting  stranger,  but  I 
don't  think  he  is  intended  to  understand  anything.  What 
with  tributes  and  claims,  with  leads  and  lodes,  with  shafts 
and  levels  and  cross-cuts  and  veins,  with  reefs  and  gullies, 
with  quartz,  amalgam,  tailings,  and  mullock, — I  am  by  no 
means  sure  of  the  spelling  of  that  last  word, — he  is  made  to 
feel  that  he  is  an  outsider,  and  that  he  cannot  learn  mining 
in  a  day.  At  Sandhurst  I  felt  this  very  strongly ; — and  my 
reader  will  probably  feel  as  I  did.  He  will  simply  acknow- 
ledge to  himself  the  fact  that  a  cake  of  gold  containing 
2,564  oz., — and  worth  about  ^10,000, — is  a  very  large  cake 
indeed. 

The  names  selected  by  various  companies  at  the  Sand- 
hurst gold-fields  deserve  attention.  Sandhurst,  which  now 
aspires  to  be  the  leading  Australian  gold-field,  and  which 
certainly  turns  out  more  gold  than  any  other,  boasts  at 
present  no  less  than  1,200  different  companies.  I  should  say 
that  there  were  1,200  in  the  early  part  of  1872.  The  number 
will  probably  be  very  greatly  increased  before  these  word 


b 


are  published.  The  names  chosen  for  these  companies  are 
certainly  very  quaint.  There  are  not  less  than  fourteen 
"  New  Chum  "  Companies,  and  there  are  three  or  four  "  Old 
Chum  "  Companies.  There  are  the  Peg  Leg,  the  Perfect 
Cure,  the  Who  can  Tell,  the  Great  Extended  Who  can  Tell, 
the  Sons  of  Freedom,  the  Sir  Walter  Scott,  the  Sailor  Prince, 
the  Royal  Louisa,  the  Lord  Byron,  the  Little  Chum,  the 
Jonadab,  the  Hand  and  Band,  the  Happy  Day,  the  Happy- 
go-Lucky,  the  Great  Extended  South  Golden  Pyke,  the  Go 
by  Gold,  the  Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  the  Gladstone, — indeed 
there  are  five  or  six  Gladstone  Companies ; — and,  to  be 
fair,  I  must  add  that  there  is  a  Disraeli  Company;  I  do 
not,  however,  find  it  quoted  among  those  that  are  paying 


SANDHURST.  57 

dividends.  But,  among  all  names  at  Sandhurst,  the  greatest 
name,  the  most  thriving,  the  best  known,  and  the  name  in 
highest  repute,  is — "  Hustler."  Whence  came  the  appella- 
tion I  do  not  distinctly  know,  but  I  believe  that  there  once 
was — perhaps  still  is — a  happy  Hustler.  If  so,  even  the 
Marquis  of  Granby  among  publicans  has  not  been  a  more 
prolific  godfather  than  has  Mr.  Hustler  among  Sandhurst 
miners.  "What  with  original  Hustler  Companies  and  Tribute 
Hustler  Companies,  with  simple  Hustlers,  and  Extended 
Hustlers,  and  Great  Extended  Hustlers,  with  North 
Hustlers,  and  South  Hustlers,  and  with  Extended  North 
and  South  Hustlers,  the  companies  who  claim  the  happy 
name  are  difficult  to  count.  There  are  at  any  rate  two 
dozen  of  them,  and  all,  or  nearly  ah,  are  doing  well. 

Of  these- 1,200  different  companies,  about  one-third  are, 
so  called,  Tribute  Companies.  The  parent  company — for 
instance  the  parent  Great  Extended  Hustlers — lets  off  a 
piece  of  land,  or  a  claim,  to  a  set  of  men,  generally  working 
miners,  having  performed  a  certain  portion  of  the  preliminary 
work, — having  opened  the  shaft  and  put  up  machinery,  and 
probably  shown  that  gold  is  to  be  had  for  the  labour.  The 
claim  is  let  on  a  certain  tribute, — the  tributers  or  sub- 
company  agreeing  to  pay  a  fixed  proportion  of  the  gold 
extracted  to  the  original  company  The  miners  are  very 
fond  of  going  into  this  kind  of  speculation,  as  it  opens  up 
to  them  the  chance  of  making  a  fortune.  But  on  the  other 
hand  it  opens  up  to  them  also  the  chance — and  very  often 
the  reality— of  working  for  nothing.  The  expenses  of  the 
mine  and  the  tribute  which  is  exacted  will  not  unfrequently 
consume  all  the  gold  produced  ;  or,— worse  than  that, — the 
expense  of  the  mine  will  go  on,  and  there  will  be  no  produce. 
The  tributer  will  not  only  be  working  for  nothing,  but  will 
also  be  called  on  to  pay  towards  the  continuance  of  the 
enterprise.  He  must  live  the  while, — and  would  thus  seem 
to  be  debarred  from  such  speculation  unless  he  be  possessed 
of  capital.  But  in  fact  such  is  not  the  case.  A  miner  at 
Sandhurst,  when  I  was  there,  could  earn  from  £2  ioj.  to 
£5  a  week,  and  could  live  well  on  20s.  Two  men,  or  more, 
would  form  a  partnership,  of  which  the  one  half  would  work 


58  VICTORIA. 

for  wages,  and  the  other  half  on  a  tribute  claim.  The  wages 
would  suffice  to  support  the  whole,  and  even  to  pay  up  a 
certain  amount  of  "  calls."  Should  the  speculation  turn  out 
well,  the  profits  would  be  divided  among  the  lot.  The 
speculation  often  does  turn  out  well,  and  men  become 
suddenly  enriched.  It  often  turns  out  badly, — and  in  such 
cases  the  miners  have  worked  barely  for  a  subsistence.  At 
such  places  as  Sandhurst  it  is  said  that  in  this  way  a  grand 
spirit  of  commercial  enterprise  is  created  and  fostered.  Men 
without  capital  are  enabled  to  enter  in  upon  the  joys  of  com- 
mercial speculation.  There  is,  however,  another  way  of  look- 
ing at  it ;  and  many  no  doubt  will  think  that  the  commercial 
speculation  is  simple  gambling  on  a  great  scale.  I  have  no 
doubt  myself  that  the  miners  who  work  simply  for  wages  are 
in  the  long  run  more  prosperous  than  they  who  work  on 
tribute.  A  man's  wages  represent  to  him  with  clear  and 
well-defined  reality  the  very  sweat  of  his  brow.  If  there  be 
enough  for  him  to  save  something,  and  if  he  be  given  to 
saving,  he  will  save  the  surplus  of  money  so  earned.  But 
that  which  comes  to  him  in  a  lump,  from  some  happy  chance, 
from  some  pocket  of  gold  found  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth, 
from  some  rich  crushing  of  quartz  with  which  it  has  been 
his  lot  to  become  connected,  exalts  him  suddenly,  upsets 
his  head, — and  is  apt  to  disappear  as  rapidly  as  it  came. 
All  this  of  course  is  old-world  teaching  and  grandmother's 
tales.  I  feel  as  I  write  it  that  it  is  too  trite  to  be  written. 
But  I  feel  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  impossible  to  write  of 
gold-mining  in  Australia  without  repeating  the  old  lesson. 
No  doubt  instances  may  be  adduced  of  men  who  have  made 
and  have  kept  splendid  fortunes  by  gold-mining, — of  men 
who  have  done  so  without  capital,  by  small  speculations  at 
first,  and  by  extended  operations  as  the  means  have  come 
to  them.  I  have  heard  of  men  so  blessed, — and  could 
name  one  or  two.  But  I  have  heard  of  no  case  in  which 
the  man  so  blessed  was  represented  to  me  as  living  after  a 
blessed  fashion.  I  have,  however,  heard  of  cases  by  the 
score  in  which  the  questionable  blessing  has  never  been 
achieved, — as  to  which  I  have  been  told,  frequently  by  the 
speculators  themselves,  that  had  they  stopped  here  or  had 


SANDHURST.  59 

they  stopped  there,  they  would  have  made  two,  four,  six, 
ten,  or  twenty  thousand  pounds  as  the  case  may  have  been. 
There  has  been  a  shake  of  the  head,  and  a  soft  regret ;  and 
I  always  felt  that  I  liked  the  man  the  better  in  that  he  had 
lost  it  all,  than  I  should  have  done  had  he  become  per- 
manently successful. 

As  regards  the  working  miners,  including  all  those  who 
manage  the  works  and  overlook  the  machinery,  I  am  bound 
to  say  that  they  are  a  fine  body  of  able  and  industrious  men. 
This  is  so  on  all  the  large  gold-fields,  and  nowhere  more 
noticeably  than  at  Sandhurst.  They  are  intelligent,  manly, 
and  independent, — altogether  free  from  that  subservience 
which  the  domination  of  capital  too  often  produces  in 
most  fields  of  labour.  I  have  spoken,  perhaps  as  strongly 
as  I  know  how  to  speak,  of  the  gambling  propensities  of 
the  population  of  a  gold-mining  town.  I  should  be  wrong 
if  I  did  not  speak  as  strongly  of  the  efforts  which  are  made 
by  such  communities, — which  in  Australia  are  always  made 
when  the  communities  become  large  and  apparently  fixed, — 
to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  people.  The  hospitals 
are  excellent,  the  provision  for  the  indigent  is  so  good  as 
almost  to  promote  indigence,  the  schools  are  well  conducted 
and  well  filled,  the  churches  are  sufficient,  and  the  clergy- 
men are  supported.  The  money  comes  freely  and  is  freely 
expended.  And  in  no  community  are  the  manners  of  the 
people  more  courteous  or  their  conduct  more  decent.  Of 
course  there  is  drinking.  The  idle  men  drink, — would-be 
gentlemen,  who  are  trying  to  speculate,  without  apparent 
means  of  livelihood,  drink, — miners  who  are  not  mining, 
having  what  they  call  a  spell,  or  holiday,  will  drink.  But 
the  working  miner  is  a  sober  man,  with  a  sober  family;  and 
of  such  the  bulk  of  the  mining  population  is  made  up.  In 
England  working  men  drink  ; — work  by  day,  and  drink  by 
night ;  then  half  work  by  day  and  double  drink  by  night, — 
till  the  thing  comes  soon  to  an  end.  In  Australia,  as  a 
rule,  the  working  man  does  not  drink  while  he  works. 
The  shearer  does  not  drink ;  the  shepherd  and  boundary- 
rider  do  not  drink  ;  the  reaper  and  ploughman  do  not 
drink  } — nor  does  the  miner  drink,     Let  them  be  idle  for  a 


60  VICTORIA. 

while  ;  let  them  take  their  wages  and  go  away  for  a  "  spell;" 
• — then  they  will  drink  as  no  Englishman  ever  drinks,  drink 
down  in  a  fortnight  the  earnings  of  a  year.  But  there  is 
less  of  this  with  miners  than  with  shearers  or  ploughmen. 
The  miner  gambles, — and  is  so  saved  from  the  worse  vice 
of  drinking. 

And  the  gambling  of  the  miner  has  about  it  a  certain 
redeeming  manliness  which  is  altogether  wanting  to  the 
denizen  of  the  race-course  or  of  the  roulette-table.  Though 
he  gambles,  he  works  and  produces.  The  gambling  is  but 
an  excrescence  on  his  genuine  industry.  The  Sandhurst 
regular  miner  works  in  shifts,  of  eight  hours  each  shift, 
throughout  the  day  and  night.  The  gold  is  being  sought 
and  found,  dug  out  and  dragged  up,  and  crushed  out  of  its 
matrix,  the  quartz,  for  four-and-twenty  hours  a  day,  during 
six  days  of  the  week.  And  the  skilled  miner,  by  eight 
hours'  work  a  day,  may  earn  at  least  gs.  a  day  in  a  country 
in  which  he  and  his  wife  and  children  may  live  comfortably 
— and  as  regards  food  with  absolute  plenty — for  4s.  a  day. 
The  gold-miner  at  Sandhurst  who  keeps  himself  simply  to 
his  work,  and  takes  no  part  in  New  Extended  Great  Chum 
Tributes,  has,  as  work  goes  on  in  the  world,  by  no  means 
an  unhappy  lot. 

I  went  down  the  shaft  of  one  mine, — the  Great  Extended 
Hustler,  T  think  it  was  called, — 600  feet  below  the  surface, 
and  was  received  with  the  greatest  courtesy.  I  am  bound 
to  say  that  I  saw  nothing  that  was  worth  seeing,  and  that  I 
understood  nothing  of  all  that  was  told  to  me.  This  is  an  almost 
disgraceful  declaration  to  make,  after  one  has  pretended  to 
understand  2II  that  was  said.  But  it  was  so  with  me,  and  is 
so  I  take  it  with  all  travellers.  The  experienced  and  good- 
natured  professional  miners  who  conduct  the  strangers  are 
anxious  that  everything  should  be  made  plain.  To  them 
everything  is  plain.  But  the  very  A  B  C  of  their  necessary 
knowledge  is  probably  Hebrew  to  the  listener,  who  is  too 
grateful  for  the  attention  paid  to  him  to  tell  the  kind  teacher 
how  utterly  unintelligible  to  him  is  the  whole  matter  in 
question.  It  was  so  Avith  me  ; — but  this  I  saw,  and  could 
have  seen  as  well  above  the  earth  as  by  going  below, — that 


SANDHURST.  61 

tons  of  grey  stone  were  dragged  up,  that  the  grey  stone  was 
all  stamped  and  crushed  into  powder  by  machinery,  and 
that  out  of  the  powder  gold  was  got  in  certain  proportions, 
— so  many  ounces,  or  more  probably  so  many  pennyweights, 
to  the  ton  of  stone, — and  that,  as  the  result  was  good  or 
bad,  dividends  were  divided  or  were  not  divided  among  the 
speculators. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

GIPPSLAND,  WALHALLA,  AND   WOODS   POINT. 

I  went  by  coach  from  Melbourne  to  Gippsland  with  a 
friend,  partly  with  a  view  of  visiting  that  district  generally, 
and  partly  that  I  might  see  the  eastern  gold-fields  of  the 
colony.  I  had  indeed  become  very  tired  of  gold, — which 
to  a  traveller  who  enjoys  none  of  the  excitement  arising 
from  the  hope  of  acquiring  it,  is  but  a  wearisome  object.  I 
did  not  desire  to  go  down  more  mines,  and  yet  I  felt  that  I 
should  not  be  strong-minded  enough  to  save  myself  from 
further  descents.  I  think  I  should  have  taken  the  Gipps- 
land gold-fields  on  credit,  had  I  not  been  told  that  the 
scenery  around  them  was  peculiarly  beautiful.  I  was 
specially  desired  not  to  miss  Woods  Point, — which  indeed 
is  not  in  Gippsland,  but  which  could  be  visited  from 
Gippsland  by  any  one  who  would  trust  himself  among  the 
mountains  on  horseback.  From  Woods  Point  I  could 
return  to  Melbourne  by  a  direct  road,  so  as  to  avoid  the  dis- 
agreeable task  of  retracing  my  steps  over  the  same  path. 
As  far  as  scenery  was  concerned,  I  was  certainly  repaid  for 
the  labour  of  a  somewhat  laborious  journey.  Gippsland 
is  the  south-eastern  district  of  Victoria.  It  has  I  believe 
lately  been  divided  into  counties, — or  rather,  a  portion  of  it 
has  been  so  far  civilised.  It  is  separated  from  the  Murray 
district  of  Victoria  by  spurs  of  the  so-called  Australian  Alps, 
among  which  lie  the  eastern  gold-fields. 

We  started  by  one  of  Cobb's  coaches  at  one  o'clock  in 
the  day,  and  reached  the  little  town  of  Rosedale  in  Gipps- 
land at  ten  the  next  morning.      Cobb's  coaches  have  the 


GIPPSLAND.  63 

name  of  being  very  rough, — and  more  than  once  I  have 
been  warned  against  travelling  by  them.  They  were  not 
fit,  I  was  told,  for  an  effeminate  Englishman  of  my  time  of 
life.  The  idea  that  Englishmen, — that  is,  new-chums,  or 
Englishmen  just  come  from  home, — are  made  of  paste, 
whereas  the  Australian  native  or  thoroughly  acclimatized,  is 
steel  all  through,  I  found  to  be  universal.  On  hearing  such 
an  opinion  as  to  his  own  person,  a  man  is  bound  to  sacrifice 
himself,  and  to  act  contrary  to  the  advice  given,  even  though 
he  perish  in  doing  so.  This  journey  I  made  and  did  not  perish 
at  all; — and  on  arriving  at  Rosedale  had  made  up  my  mind 
that  twenty  hours  on  a  Cobb's  coach  through  the  bush  in 
Australia  does  not  inflict  so  severe  a  martyrdom  as  did  in 
the  old  days  a  journey  of  equal  duration  on  one  of  the  time- 
famous,  much-regretted  old  English  mails.  More  space  is 
allowed  you  for  stretching  your  legs  on  the  seat,  and  more 
time  for  stretching  your  legs  at  the  stages.  The  road  of 
course  is  rough, — generally  altogether  unmade, — but  the 
roughness  lends  an  interest  to  the  occasion,  and  when  the 
coach  is  stuck  in  a  swamp, — as  happens  daily, — it  is  pleasant 
to  remember  that  the  horses  do  finally  succeed,  every  day, 
in  pulling  it  out  again.  On  this  road  there  is  a  place  called 
the  Glue  Pot,  extending  perhaps  for  a  furlong,  as  to  which 
the  gratified  traveller  feels  that  now,  at  any  rate,  the  real 
perils  of  travel  have  been  attained.  But  the  horses,  rolling 
up  to  their  bellies  in  the  mud,  do  pull  the  coach  through. 
This  happens  in  the  darkness  of  night,  in  the  thick  forest, — 
and  the  English  traveller  in  his  enthusiasm  tells  the  coach- 
man that  no  English  whip  would  have  looked  at  such  a 
place  even  by  daylight.  The  man  is  gratified,  lights  his 
pipe,  and  rushes  headlong  into  the  next  gully. 

The  land  between  Melbourne  and  Gippsland,  through 
the  county  of  Mornington,  is  very  poor ;  as  it  is  also  for 
some  distance  in  Gippsland  itself.  Then  the  timber  be- 
comes less  thick  and  the  grasses  rich.  When  first  taken  up 
the  country  was  used  for  sheep  ; — but  it  was  not  found  to  be 
good  for  wool,  and  the  sheep  have  now  given  place  to 
cattle.  A  large  proportion  of  the  beef  with  which  Mel- 
bourne is  fed   is  fattened  on  the  Gippsland  runs.     Here. 


64  VICTORIA. 

as  throughout  Victoria,  all  the  best  of  the  soil  has  been 
already  purchased,  and  is  for  the  most  part  in  the  hand  of 
large  owners — of  men  whose  successors  will  be  lords  of  vast 
territorial  properties,  and  not  of  small  free-selecters  or  farmers. 
Throughout  the  colony  it  is  impossible  not  to  see  how  futile 
have  been  the  efforts  of  legislation  to  prevent  the  accumula- 
tion of  large  domains  in  the  hands  of  successful  men.  It 
has  been  thought  by  one  ministry  after  another  to  be  wise, 
— or,  at  any  rate,  to  be  expedient, — to  break  up  the  hold- 
ings of  the  great  squatters,  so  that  there  should  be  no  terri- 
torial magnates.  The  law  has  done  all  that  it  could  be 
made  to  do,  compatibly  with  justice, — sometimes  perhaps 
more  than  it  could  do  with  that  condition, — to  make  the 
colony  a  paradise  for  small  landowners,  and  a  purgatory  for 
wealthy  men  who  should  attempt  to  accumulate  acres. 
Politicians  ambitious  of  being  statesmen,  who  can  reach 
power  only  by  the  aid  of  universal  suffrage,  are  prone  to 
look  for  popularity,  and  popularity  in  Victoria  has  much 
depended  on  adherence  to  the  interests  of  the  free-selecter. 
As  I  have  said  elsewhere,  the  interests  of  the  small  buyer 
of  land  are  entitled  to  warmer  sympathy  than  those  of  the 
would-be  territorial  magnates.  One  still  dreams  of  a  happy 
land  in  which  every  man  with  his  wife  and  children  shall 
live  happily  and  honestly  on  his  own  acres, — owing  neither 
rent  nor  submission  to  any  lord.  It  may  be  that  this  feel- 
ing has  been  stronger  with  Victorian  politicians  than  the 
love  of  political  power.  It  is  at  any  rate  the  feeling  by 
which  they  claim  to  have  been  actuated,  and  they  have 
worked  hard  to  carry  out  their  theory.  But  the  wages  of 
commerce  and  the  enterprise  of  the  intelligent  have  been 
stronger  than  any  bonds  which  statesmen  or  legislators 
could  forge.  Wealth  has  been  accumulated  by  a  few,  and 
wealth  has  procured  the  land  in  spite  of  the  laws.  Though 
cabinet  ministers  and  land  commissioners  have  had  the 
land  in  their  hands  to  sell  under  such  laws  as  they  have 
pleased  to  pass,  though  they  have  had  a  power  entrusted 
to  them  as  managers  and  agents  greater  than  any  confided 
by  us  to  our  ministers  at  home,  though  it  has  been  declared 
by  politicians  that  there  should  be  no  land  magnates  in 


GIPPSLAND.  O5 

Victoria,  the  rich  have  bought  the  land  ;  and  now  vast 
territories  are  possessed  by  individuals  which  more  than 
rival  in  area — and  in  course  of  time  will  rival  in  value — 
the  possessions  of  great  families  at  home.  This  is  hardly 
so  in  the  United  States, — is  not  so  certainly  to  the  same 
extent.  There  men  seek  to  build  up  wealth  in  the  cities 
rather  than  in  the  country,  and  prefer  shares  and  scrip  and 
commercial  speculation  to  land.  Why  there  should  be  this 
difference  in  the  same  race,  when  settled  away  from  home 
in  different  regions,  some  one  some  day  no  doubt  will 
tell  us. 

To  fatten  cattle  is  the  present  business  of  the  Gippsland 
squire.  Cattle,  no  doubt,  are  bred  there,  but  it  seemed  to 
be  more  usual  to  buy  them  young  from  some  other  district, 
and  have  them  driven  up  over  long  distances  to  the  Gipps- 
land pastures.  I  do  not  pride  myself  on  having  a  good 
eye  for  a  bullock, — but  those  I  saw  seemed  to  be  very  big 
and  very  fat,  very  tame  and  very  stupid.  Why  a  bullock  who 
has  a  paddock  of  seven  or  eight  thousand  acres  in  which  to 
roam  should  make  so  little  of  himself  as  these  beasts  do  in 
Australia  I  cannot  understand.  At  home  I  think  they  are 
more  troublesome  and  have  higher  hearts.  I  went  out  one 
morning  at  four  a.m.  to  see  a  lot  drafted  out  of  a  herd  for 
sale.  "  Cutting  out"  is  the  proper  name  for  this  operation. 
Two  or  three  men  on  horseback,  of  whom  I  considered  my- 
self to  be  by  far  the  most  active,  drove  some  hundreds  of 
them  into  a  selected  corner  of  the  paddock  called  a  "camp." 
There  was  no  enclosure,  no  hurdles,  no  gates,  no  flogging, 
very  little  hallooing,  and  very  little  work.  This  camp  hap- 
pened to  be  in  a  corner ;  but  camps  for  cattle  generally  are 
in  the  centre  of  the  field,  a  bare  spot, — made  bare  by  its 
repeated  use  for  this  purpose, — to  which  the  bullocks  go 
when  they  are  told,  and  on  which  they  stand  quietly  till  the 
operation  of  cutting  out  is  over.  On  the  occasion  on  which 
I  was  assisting,  the  owner  himself  was  the  "  cutter  out.'' 
He  rode  in  among  the  herd,  and  selecting  with  his  eye  some 
animal  sufficiently  obese  for  market  purposes,  signified  to 
the  doomed  one  that  he  should  leave  the  herd.  There  was 
a  stock-rider  to  assist  him,  and  the  stock-rider  also  signified 


66  VICTORIA. 

his  intention.  It  seemed  to  be  done  altogether  by  the  eye. 
The  beast  went  out  and  stood  apart,  till  he  was  joined  by  a 
second  selected  one  and  then  by  a  third.  On  this  occasion 
some  thirty  or  forty  were  selected,- — either  as  many  as  were 
fit  or  as  the  owner  desired  to  sell.  These  were  at  once 
driven  off  on  the  way  to  Melbourne,  and  the  others  were 
allowed  to  £0  back  to  their  grazing.  I  had  looked  for 
racing,  and  cracking  of  stock-whir. 5.  and  horses  falling,  and 
some  wild  work  among  the  forest  trees.  I  would  not  know- 
ingly have  left  my  bed  at  four  o'clock  to  see  so  tame  a  per- 
formance. At  least  for  half  its  distance  the  road  up  to 
Melbourne  is  not  fenced  off  from  the  timber,  and  consists 
of  devious  forest  tracts  j  but  these  tame  brutes  never  make 
their  way  out  into  the  woods  on  the  journey,  as  they 
might  do. 

My  friend  and  I  bought  two  horses  and  two  saddles,  and 
started  from  Rosedale  on  our  journey  to  the  mines.  We 
had  met  some  influential  gentlemen  of  the  district — a  judge, 
a  resident  magistrate,  and  an  inspector  of  police — who 
were  united  in  their  assurance  that  if  we  went  without 
a  guide  we  should  certainly  be  lost  in  the  bush.  Now  my 
friend  was  a  man  of  mark,  whose  loss  would  have  been 
severely  felt  by  the  colony,  and  for  his  security  we  were 
furnished  with  a  mounted  trooper,  or  policeman,  to  show  us 
our  way,  and  generally  take  care  of  us  on  our  expedition. 
We  certainly  needed  him,  and,  as  I  believe,  would  have 
been  sleeping  now  in  some  Gippsland  gully  but  for  his 
assistance.  Our  first  day's  march  was  to  Walhalla.  a  mining 
town  of  great  wealth  to  which  there  is  literally  no  roac. 
Our  journey  was  one  of  about  forty  miles  j — for  the  latter 
half  of  it,  continuously  through  forests,  and  as  continuously 
up  and  down  mountains.  These  were  so  steep  that  it  was 
often  impossible  to  sit  on  horseback.  As  the  weather  was 
very  hot  our  toil  was  great,  and  I  shall  never  forget  the 
welcome  with  which  I  greeted  the  beer-shop  on  the  Thomp- 
son River.  The  scenery  through  these  mountains  is  magni- 
ficent,— when  it  can  be  seen.  But  such  is  the  continuity 
and  contiguity  of  the  trees,  that  it  becomes  impossible  for 
miles  together  to  see  either  the  hill-tops  or  the  depths  of 


WALHALLA.  G7 

the  valleys.  Going  down  to  the  Thompson  River,  and 
again  down  into  Walhalla,  we  found  it  to  be  impossible  to 
ride  ;  and  yet  we  knew  that  immense  masses  of  machinery 
had  been  taken  down  by  bullocks  for  die  use  of  the  miners. 
We  were  told  that  very  many  bullocks  had  been  destroyed 
at  the  work.  I  could  not  have  believed  that  there  had  been 
such  a  traffic  across  the  mountains  and  through  the  forests, 
had  I  not  afterwards  seen  the  things  at  Walhalla. 

At  last  we  got  to  the  place,  very  tired  and  very  footsore, 
and  had  bedrooms  allocated  to  us  in  the  hotel  close  to  the 
quartz-crushing  machine,  which  goes  on  day  and  night  eat- 
ing up  the  rock  which  is  dragged  forth  from  the  bowels  of 
the  earth.  The  noisy  monster  continued  his  voracious  meal 
without  cessation  for  a  moment,  so  that  sleep  was  out  of  the 
question.  To  the  residents  of  the  inn  the  effect  was  simply 
somniferous.  Their  complaint  was  that  from  twelve  o'clock 
on  Saturday  night  when  the  monster  begins  to  keep  his 
Sabbath,  to  twelve  o'clock  on  Sunday  night  when  his  religious 
observances  are  over,  the  air  is  so  burdened  by  silence  that 
they  can  neither  talk  by  day  nor  sleep  by  night. 

The  mining  town  which  has  been  dignified  by  the  name 
of  Walhalla  lies  at  the  bottom  of  a  gully  from  which  the 
wooded  sides  rise  steeply.  Through  it  meanders  a  stream 
which  is  now,  of  course,  contaminated  by  the  diggings  and 
pumpings,  and  gold-washing  and  quartz-crushing,  which 
have  befallen  the  locality.  Nevertheless  it  has  a  peculiar 
beauty  ot  its  own,  and  a  picturesque  interest  arising  in  part 
from  the  wooded  hills  which  so  closely  overhang  it, — but 
partly  also  from  the  quaintness  of  a  town  so  placed.  The 
buildings,  consisting  of  banks,  churches,  schools,  hotels, 
managers'  houses,  and  miners'  cottages,  lie  along  the  stream, 
or  are  perched  up  on  low  altitudes  among  the  trees.  There 
is  something  like  a  winding  street  through  it,  which  is  nearly 
a  mile  long, — though  indeed  it  is  difficult  sometimes  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  river  and  the  street ;  but  there  is  no 
road  to  it  from  an)- place  in  the  world; — and  even  the  tracks 
by  which  it  is  to  be  left  are  not  easy  ot  discovery.  We  went 
down  to  it  by  the  "Little  Joe,"  the  Little  ]oe  being  a  hill- 
side, and  1  hope  1  may  never  have  to  go  down  the  Little  Joe 


68  VICTORIA. 

again  with  a  tired  horse  behind  me.  We  left  it  by  a  path 
as  steep  and  so  hidden  that  we  should  never  have  found  it 
without  a  guide.  As  it  was,  the  mayor  conducted  us  out  of 
Walhalla  with  some  solemnity. 

And  yet  in  this  singular  place  there  are,  or  seem  to  be, 
congregated  all  the  necessaries  and  most  of  the  luxuries  of 
life.  There  was  a  pianoforte  in  the  hotel  sitting-room,  and 
framed  pictures  hanging  on  the  wall, — just  as  there  might 
be  in  Birmingham.  And  there  was  a  billiard-table, — at 
which  unwashed  earth-soiled  diggers  were  playing,  and  play- 
ing, too,  very  well.  At  what  cost  must  the  pianoforte  and 
the  billiard-table  have  been  brought  down  the  mountain 
track  !  Nevertheless  the  charge  for  billiards  was  no  more 
than  sixpence  a  game ;  and  no  charge  whatever  was  made 
for  the  piano  ! 

The  great  mine  at  Walhalla  when  I  was  there  was  the 
Long  Tunnel.  Shares  in  the  Long  Tunnel  were  hardly  to 
be  had  for  money;  but,  bought  even  at  most  exaggerated 
prices,  gave  almost  endless  interest.  I  went  down  the  Long 
Tunnel, — and  came  up  again.  As  usual  I  found  below  a 
dirty  grubbing  world.  Men  were  earning  between  £2  and 
^3  a  week,  living  hardly, — though  always  plenteously;  and 
speculating  in  gold  with  their  savings.  But  here,  as  else- 
where, they  were  courteous  and  kind.  Their  children  are 
all  educated,  and  if  churches  and  meeting-houses  may  be 
taken  as  a  proof  of  religion  they  are  religious.  I  was  told 
that  the  place  contained  about  1,500  inhabitants.  I  cannot 
repeat  too  often  that  I  have  never  met  more  courteous  men 
than  the  gold-miners  of  Australia. 

We  stayed  but  one  night,  and  then  proceeded  on  our 
journey,  still  taking  our  mounted  guide,  and  for  the  first  ten 
miles  were  under  the  special  guardianship  of  the  mayor, — ■ 
who  was  to  be  looked  upon,  I  was  told,  as  a  deputation  from 
the  town  in  honour  of  my  friend.  A  very  pleasant  fellow 
we  found  the  Mayor  of  Walhalla,  and  we  parted  from  him  in 
great  kindness,  even  though  he  did  lose  the  way  in  the  forest, 
and  take  us,  all  for  nothing,  up  and  down  one  mountain 
side.  When  he  parted  from  us  our  trusty  trooper  was  a 
safer  guide.     This  man  was,  I  believe,  no  more  than  an 


■\voons  point,  69 

onlinary  policeman.  The  rural  policemen  of  the  colonics, 
who  have  to  pass  over  wide  districts,  are  all  mounted.  But 
thev  carry  themselves  higher,  and  stand  much  higher 
among  their  fellow  eiti.  ens.  than  do  the  men  of  the  same 
class  with  us.  Wcare  apt  to  separate  men  into  two  classes, 
— and  define  each  man  by  saving  that  he  is  or  that  he  is  not 
a  gentleman.  This  man  was  a  private  policeman.  Had  I 
not  known  the  fact,  I  should  have  taken  him  for  a 
gentleman.  Kven  as  it  is  1  rather  think  that  1  regard  him 
in  that  light,  lie  was  a  fine, powerful  fellow,  well  mannered. 
able  to  talk  on  .ill  subjects,  extremely  courteous, — and  he 
amused  us  greatly  by  explaining  to  us  why  it  was  that  a 
policeman  must  be  always  more  than  a  match  for  at  any  rate 
two  rogues.  He  was  an  Irishman, — of  course.  In  the  colonies 
those  who  make  money  are  generally  Scotchmen,  and  those 
who  do  not  are  mostly  Irishmen.  He  had  probably  come 
out  because  his  family  could  do  nothing  for  him  at  home.  I 
hope  that  he  may  live  to  be  deneral-in-Chief  of  the  Victorian 
police.  He  took  us  through  the  mountains  to  an  old  and  appa- 
rently worn-out  diggings  called  Edwards'  Reef.— a  miserable, 
melancholy  place,  surrounded  by  interminable  forests,  in 
which  unhappy  diggers  had  sunk  holes  here  and  there,  so 
that  one  wondered  that  the  children  did  not  all  perish  by 
falling  into  them.  But  even  at  Fdwards  Reef  there  was  an 
hotel,  though  1  was  at  a  loss  to  imagine  by  whom  it  could 
be  suppoited.  It  was  a  large  wooden  building,  now  nearly 
falling  to  the  ground  ;  though  doubtless  it  had  once  been 
ahvewiih  the  sound  of  miners'  \oices  in  the  days  when  there 
was  gold  in  those  quarters. 

l-'ioin  Edwards  Reef  we  went  on  to  Woods  Point,  having 
changed  our  policeman.  It  seems  that  the  magistrates  had 
ordered  that  we  should  be  taken  in  safety  as  tar  as  the  latter 
place.  We  passed  another  day  in  traversing  endless  forests, 
and  in  ascending  and  descending  ravines.  Here  and  there, 
in  the  densest  parts  of  the  forests,  we  came  on  the  old  tracks 
of  mineis.  finding  the  holes  which  they  had  dug  in  search  of 
gold.  How  manv  a  heart  must  have  been  broken. — how 
many  a  back  nearly  broken,  among  these  mountains  !  The 
;;>ce:us  and  descents   here  were  veiy  steep,   and   on  one 


70  VICTORIA. 

occasion  we  submitted  to  be  pulled  up,  hanging  on  to  our 
horses'  tails, — an  operation  which  I  had  not  seen  since  I 
hunted,  many  years  ago,  in  Carmarthenshire.  On  this 
journey  we  had  an  adventure.  At  an  inn  among  the  moun- 
tains,— for  here  and  there  one  comes  upon  an  inn,  though 
there  are  no  roads, — we  found  two  girls  who  were  desirous 
of  going  to  a  wedding  which  was  to  be  held  in  a  neighbour- 
ing gully.  Luckily,  or  perhaps  unluckily,  the  mounted 
mailman  came  up,  driving  two  spare  horses  before  him.  So 
the  girls  at  once  borrowed  the  horses,  and  the  inn  afforded 
one  side-saddle.  The  girl  who  mounted  without  the  side- 
saddle rode  well,  and  might  have  reached  the  wedding 
triumphantly ;  but  the  other  was  somewhat  at  fault,  even 
with  the  side-saddle.  She  was  bold  enough,  but  had  pro- 
bably never  been  on  horseback  before.  We  had  gone  on 
during  the  trouble  of  the  saddle  as  there  appeared  to  be 
some  bashfulness  in  completing  the  arrangement ;  but 
before  long  the  poor  maiden's  steed  was  after  us.  He  had 
run  away  with  her,  and  for  a  moment  or  two  I  thought  she 
must  have  perished  among  the  trees,- — but  as  the  beast 
passed  us  he  shied,  and  deposited  his  burden  close  at  the 
feet  of  the  horse  I  was  riding.  She  was  shaken,  for  awhile 
speechless,  soiled,  and  wretched ;  but  before  long  she  pro- 
claimed her  intention  of  walking  to  the  wedding.  The  dis- 
tance was  not  above  six  miles  through  the  woods.  The 
other  girl  like  a  true  friend  dismounted,  that  she  might  walk 
with  her  companion,  and  the  mailman  with  his  spare  horses 
proceeded  on  with  us  to  Jericho. 

Jericho  was  another  digging  town,  down  in  a  gully,  at 
which  men  were  grubbing  for  gold,  scooping  out  great  holes 
in  and  near  the  bed  of  the  river.  The  great  forests  rose 
steep  on  each  side,  and  the  place  was  grandly  picturesque. 
We  were  told  that  Jericho  not  long  since  had  been  a  pros- 
perous place  for  gold-seekers.  Thence  we  ascended  a  hill 
to  Matlock,  another  gold-digging  town,  very  high  up,  very 
bleak,  and  the  most  wretched  place  I  ever  saw.  Some  one 
there  declared  that  Matlock  was  the  highest  inhabited  spot 
in  Victoria.  This  was  in  February,  a  summer  month ; — 
but  even  then  the  cold  was  intense.     There  is  no  gold  now 


WOODS  POINT.  71 

at  Matlock,  and  I  could  not  understand  what  induced  the 
few  unfortunate  inhabitants  to  remain  there.  Though  it  is  a 
difficult  thing  to  establish  a  town  or  village,  it  is  still  more 
difficult  to  disestablish  it.  But  Matlock  will  soon  disestab- 
lish itself  under  the  effect  of  the  winds  of  heaven.  From 
Matlock  we  descended  four  miles  into  Woods  Point. 

Woods  Point  is  a  gold-field  of  great  importance, — of  very- 
great  importance  indeed  in  the  estimation  of  the  Woods- 
Pointers.  It  has  been  very  rich,  and  is  still  producing 
gold  in  remunerating  quantities.  But  I  met  nowhere  gold- 
seekers  so  wedded  to  gold  as  were  the  heroes  of  Woods 
Point.  I  was  allowed  the  privilege  of  dining  with  some  of 
the  great  men  of  the  place,  and  I  thought  that  I  should 
hardly  have  been  permitted  to  leave  the  room  alive,  because 
I  expressed  an  opinion  that  wool  was  of  more  importance 
to  the  colonies  generally  than  the  precious  metal,  which  I 
found  to  be  so  well  loved  at  this  place.  Oh,  men  of  Woods 
Point,  if  ever  these  words  should  meet  your  ears,  know  how 
utterly  unconvinced  I  was  by  your  oratory,  though  in  argu- 
ments I  was  unable  to  stand  up  against  the  fervour  of  your 
eloquence  !  At  Woods  Point  I  inspected  a  mine,  but  con- 
tented myself  with  inspecting  it  from  the  surface.  Every 
opportunity,  however,  was  given  me  to  go  below,  had  I 
chosen  to  avail  myself  of  the  courtesy  of  my  conductors. 

Woods  Point,  like  Walhalla,  is  a  gully  or  ravine, — though 
less  singular  than  Walhalla,  because  there  is  a  coach-road 
running  through  it.  The  scenery  around  it  is  very  lovely, 
— so  much  so  as  to  inspire  a  feeling  of  sorrow  that  so  much 
beauty  should  be  desecrated  by  miners.  Altogether  the 
beauty  of  the  country  through  which  we  had  passed,  and 
through  which  we  did  pass  on  our  way  back  to  Melbourne, 
contradicted  the  too  general  assertion  that  Australia  is  desti- 
tute of  lovely  scenery. 

Three  days  more,  Avith  a  pleasant  rest  at  a  friend's  house 
on  the  road, — as  to  which  I  have  spoken  in  another 
chapter,  referring  to  the  Yering  wine, — brought  us  back  to 
Melbourne.  On  the  way  down  we  passed  through  a  country 
now  well  known  for  its  enormous  trees, — all  gum-trees  of 
various  sorts,  or  Eucalypti  as  they  are  called  by  the  learned. 


72  VICTORIA. 

At  the  land  office  in  Melbourne  I  heard  tidings  of  one 
enormous  tree  which  had  lately  been  discovered  in  this 
region,  prostrate  over  a  river-bed,  and  of  which  the  remain- 
ing portion, — for  the  head  had  been  broken  off  in  the  fall, 
— measured  435  ft.  in  length.  The  gentleman  by  whom 
this  monster  was  found  had  been  sent  out  by  the  commis- 
sioners of  lands  to  inspect  the  timber  in  the  ranges  of  the 
watershed  of  the  Watts  River,  and  a  copy  of  his  report  was 
published  in  one  of  the  Melbourne  newspapers.  It  is,  I 
believe,  now  admitted  that  the  gum-trees  of  this  district  are 
the  highest  trees  yet  found  in  the  world,  surpassing  alto- 
gether those  world-famed  productions  of  California,  which 
have  for  a  while  been  regarded  as  the  kings  of  the  forest. 
I  believe  I  am  right  in  asserting  that  no  other  measured 
trunk  has  been  found  equal  in  length  to  that  above  recorded. 
I  reprint,  in  Appendix  (No.  1),  a  copy  of  the  official  report 
made  on  the  subject. 

At  Melbourne  I  sold  my  horse  and  saddle  for  ^3  io.r. 
less  than  I  had  given  for  them,  and  I  thought  that  I  had 
made  my  journey  with  sufficient  economy. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

LAND. 

I  will  now  speak  of  the  disposition  of  waste  or  crown  lands 
in  Victoria.  In  doing  so  it  will  be  my  chief  object  to 
explain  the  terms  on  which  land  can  at  present  be  bought, 
or  hired,  from  the  local  authorities  who  represent  the  Crown 
generally  in  the  colonies.  The  still  unalienated  lands  of 
Australia — by  which  term  is  included  the  great  bulk  of  the 
Australian  continent — did  belong  to  the  British  Crown  till 
the  period  at  which  the  colonies  commenced  the  task  of 
self-government.  Then  each  colony  took  possession  of  its 
own  land,  relieving  the  Crown — or  in  other  words  the  tax- 
payers of  Great  Britain — of  the  expense  of  colonial  govern- 
ment in  return  for  that  concession.  From  that  time  the 
existing  governments  of  the  day  have  administered  the  land 
as  trustees  for  the  people  of  the  colonies  in  conformity, — ■ 
or,  as  some  allege,  not  always  in  conformity, — with  the  land 
laws  as  passed  by  the  different  colonial  parliaments. 

That  is,  I  think,  after  a  rough  fashion  a  correct  statement 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  question  of  the  disposition  of 
Australian  lands  has  been  treated.  But  the  subject  is  one 
full  of  complications,  and  for  its  thorough  understanding 
demands  the  close  study  of  some  British  Acts  of  Parliament, 
and  of  very  many  colonial  land  laws.  I  am  aware  of  no 
general  British  Act  of  Parliament  regulating  the  sale  of 
waste  lands  in  Australia,  prior  to  that  passed  on  June  22nd, 
1842.  By  that  Act  the  power  of  the  Crown  to  alienate  the 
lands  was  limited, — or  I  might  almost  say  abrogated.  With 
certain  exceptions  made  on  behalf  of  the  public  service, 


74  VICTORIA. 

"  the  Crown  shall  not  alienate  these  lands,  unless  by  way  of 
sale,  nor  unless  such  sales  be  conducted  in  the  manner  and 
according  to  the  regulations  hereinafter  prescribed."  Pre- 
viously to  that  date,  grants  had  been  made  at  the  discretion 
of  the  Crown  or  of  the  governor,  and  sales  had  been  made 
either  by  auction,  or  at  fixed  price, — generally  20^.  an  acre, 
— in  accordance  with  the  same  discretion.  But  long  before 
1842,  a  great  interest  had  grown  up  in  Australia,  which, 
though  certainly  dependent  on  the  land,  did  not  require  its 
alienation ; — which  was  indeed  in  its  effects  altogether 
opposed  to  its  alienation.  In  1803,  Captain  Macarthur, 
who  had  been  employed  as  a  soldier  in  New  South  Wales, 
first  proposed  to  the  government  the  importation  of  sheep 
and  the  growth  of  wool.  If  the  government  would  grant 
the  land,  then  absolutely  useless,  he  would,  at  his  own  risk, 
import  the  sheep.  Grants  of  land  were  made  to  Macarthur, 
and  his  scheme  was  pre-eminently  successful.  There  may 
be  a  doubt  whom  we  should  regard  as  die  first  discoverer 
of  gold  in  Australia,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  we  are  in- 
debted to  Captain  Macarthur  for  thj  great  staple  of  that 
country, — for  that  which  was  its  staple  before  men  had 
dreamed  of  Australian  gold, — and  for  that  which  probably 
will  be  its  chief  staple  again,  when  gold  shall  have  either 
been  worked  out,  or,  as  is  more  probable,  shall  have  become 
less  valuable  than  wool.  Captain  Macarthur  at  first  asked, 
not  for  possession  of  land,  but  for  "permission  to  occupy  a 
sufficient  tract  of  unoccupied  lands  to  feed  his  flocks." 

Mr.  William  Campbell,  of  the  Legislative  Council  of  Vic- 
toria, in  an  indignant  protest  published  by  him  against  the 
legislation  of  his  colony  in  regard  of  land,  thus  describes 
the  commencement  of  those  pastoral  leases  by  which 
squatters  first  held  their  somewhat  precarious  property : 

"Others,"  he  says,  "followed  his" — Captain  Macarthur's — "ex- 
ample ;  the  lands  were  lying  waste ;  the  government  very  wisely 
encouraged  their  occupation,  and  licensed  any  free  and  respectable 
person  who  desired  to  occupy  them.  Commissioners  were  appointed 
to  manage  these  waste  lands,  and  the  occupants  voluntarily  paid  an 
assessment  to  defray  the  commissioners'  expenses,  and  that  of  the 
police  under  their  direction  ; — so  that  their  occupation  might  not  cost 
the  government  anything.     Bvtt  in  the  course  of  time,  when  nearly  all 


LAND.  75 

the  lands  within  a  penetrable  distance  were  occupied,  great  evils  were 
experienced  from  the  arbitrary  acts  of  these  functionaries,  who  assumed 
great  power  in  defining  the  extent  of  runs  by  lessening  one  run  in  order 
to  enlarge  another.  They  were  accused  of  receiving  bribes,  and  of 
acting  very  unfairly  between  man  and  man.  The  occupants  were 
powerless  against  the  government,  as  they  had  only  an  annual  licence. 
They  could  not  be  otherwise  than  dissatisfied.  They  required  a  better 
tenure  to  secure  them  against  the  irresponsible  acts  of  an  arbitrary 
governor  and  his  needy  subordinates.  They  agitated  their  grievances, 
and  ultimately  obtained  an  equitable  title  to  a  lease  upon  definite  terms, 
— with  a  preferable  right  to  purchase  at  a  fair  value.  They  obtained 
that  title  through  an  Act  of  Parliament,"' — an  act,  that  is,  of  the 
Imperial  Parliament, — ■"  and  an  Order  of  Her  Majesty  in  Council. 
They  were  grateful  for  that  boon  granted  to  them,  and  were  encouraged 
to  improve  their  property  under  the  fullest  confidence  that  the  promise 
of  the  Queen  under  the  sanction  of  the  Imperial  Parliament  would  be 
held  sacred.  In  this,  however,  they  have  been  much  disappointed  ;  as 
her  Majesty's  representative  in  Victoria  violated  that  promise,  by 
refusing  to  give  the  occupant  of  crown  lands  the  stipulated  pre-emptive 
right,  and  otherwise  illegally  disposed  of  such  lands  to  their  prejudice." 

The  work  from  which  I  quote  was  published  as  long  ago 
as  1855,  at  which  time  Mr.  Campbell  represented  very 
accurately  the  state  of  the  Australian  squatter's  mind. 
That  mind  has  been  in  no  degree  altered  since.  As  Mr. 
Campbell  and  the  squatters  felt  then,  Mr.  Campbell  and  the 
squatters  feel  now.  In  the  above  passage  Mr.  Campbell 
speaks  of  the  squatting  interest  of  the  Australian  continent 
generally.  When  the  Order  in  Council  above  referred  to 
was  made,  both  Victoria  and  Queensland — under  the  names 
of  Port  Phillip  and  Moreton  Bay — were  parts  of  the  great 
colony  of  New  South  Wales,  and  the  order,  therefore,  was 
supposed  to  govern  the  pastoral  interest  of  the  whole  terri- 
tory now  comprised  in  these  three  colonies.  But  the  edge 
of  Mr.  Campbell's  sword  is  specially  sharpened  against  Mr. 
La  Trobe,  the  first  governor  of  Victoria,  who  was  thought 
by  him  to  have  violated  that  Order  in  Council  on  behalf  of 
the  small  farmers  or  free-selecters  ;  and  the  swords  of  the 
Victorian  squatters  generally  have  been  sharpened  against 
the  Victorian  legislatures  since  Mr.  La  Trobe's  days  on  the 
same  ground, — under  a  biting,  burning,  overwhelming  con- 
viction, not  only  that  their  interests,  but  also  that  their 
rights,  have  been  sacrificed  to  a  thirst  for  popularity.     As 


76  VICTORIA. 

Mr.  La  Trobe  was  supposed,  by  the  squatters,  to  have  been 
unjust  in  order  that  he  might  propitiate  the  growing  num- 
bers of  the  agricultural  interest  as  opposed  to  the  pastoral 
interest,  so  succeeding  legislators  and  succeeding  cabinets 
have  been  supposed  to  be  unjust  in  order  that  they  might 
obtain  the  votes  of  the  people.  Indignation  is  the  general 
tone  of  the  Australian  squatter's  mind,  and  especially  of 
the  Victorian  squatter's  mind  ; — indignation  such  as  glowed 
in  the  bosom  of  the  old  Duke  of  Newcastle  when  he  asked 
whether  he  might  not  do  as  he  liked  with  his  own ;  that 
indignation  which  the  aristocrat  feels  all  the  world  over 
when  he  dreads  that  his  heels  will  be  wounded  by  the 
clouted  toe  of  the  aggressive  peasant.  In  the  old  country 
men  are  reticent,  and  the  indignation  is  expressed  only 
among  peers  in  fortune  and  in  misfortune.  When  doors 
are  closed,  and  the  claret  circulates,  and  all  the  company 
are  azure  blue,  men  lapped  in  luxury,  and  so  secure  in  their 
possessions  that  they  are  content  to  hold  them  though 
giving  but  two  per  cent,  for  their  capital,  mourn  together 
painfully,  and  with  feigned  horrors  speculate  on  the  coming 
of  an  imaginary  chaos.  Among  the  squatters  of  Australia 
the  spirit  of  the  men  is  the  same,  but  the  lamentations  are 
loud  and  public.  In  both  countries  they  who  lament  are 
the  rich  ones  of  the  earth.  In  both  countries  real  wealth  has 
made  itself  secure,  having  the  power  which  wealth  always 
possesses  of  fortifying  itself  against  aggression  ;  and  in  both 
cases  the  basis  of  that  wealth  is  the  possession  of  land. 

Mr.  Campbell,  I  think,  makes  out  his  case, — as  I  intend 
to  endeavour  to  explain.  He  and  the  other  squatters  were 
unjustly  used; — were  illegally  deprived  of  their  rights,  I 
would  say,  were  it  not  that  the  deprivation  was  effected  by 
law.  I  conceive  it  to  be  impossible  to  examine  the  matter 
without  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  the  squatters,  at  any 
rate  in  Victoria,  were  barred  by  the  colonial  government 
and  colonial  legislature  from  entering  in  upon  certain  privi- 
leges promised  to  them  by  a  British  Order  in  Council 
founded  on  an  Act  of  the  British  Parliament, — in  full  confi- 
dence upon  which  promises  they  had  expended  their  energies 
and  their  money.     But  a  man  may  be  defrauded  of  a  por- 


LAND.  77 

tion  of  his  gains  and  still  have  so  much  left  to  him  as  to 
induce  an  outside  observer  to  think  that  the  country  in 
■which  he  lias  been  able  to  accumulate  so  much  so  quickly, 
and  to  conserve  so  vast  a  proportion  of  what  he  has  accumu- 
lated, has  been  a  blessed  country  to  him.  Such  I  conceive 
to  be  the  condition  of  the  Victorian  squatter, — of  the  man 
who  was  a  squatter  but  is  now  a  huge  territorial  landowner. 
He  has  been  injured.  But  he  has  been  too  great  to  be  much 
affected  by  such  injury  ;  and  in  spite  of  governors,  in  spite  of 
laws,  in  spite  of  would-be-popular  cabinet  ministers  and  tribes 
of  voters,  he  rides  triumphant  on  the  top  of  the  tide. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  law  of  1842,  passed  by  the  British 
Parliament  in  reference  to  Australian  lands,  as  barring  the 
power  of  the  Crown  to  give  away  the  crown  lands  at  its 
pleasure,  or  to  sell  them  except  in  accordance  with  certain 
fixed  rules.  I  have  also  alluded  to  a  further  Act  of  the 
Imperial  Parliament  and  to  an  Order  in  Council  founded 
upon  it,  as  being  the  basis  on  which  the  Australian  squatters 
generally,  and  especially  those  of  Victoria,  rested  for  that 
security  which  they  think  has  been  denied  to  them.  This 
Act  bears  date  28th  August,  1846,  the  Order  in  Council 
9th  March,  1847, — and  they  provide  especially  for  the  lease 
of  lands  in  New  South  Wales.  They  state  the  terms  on 
which  squatters  will  be  allowed  to  run  their  flocks  on  the 
public  unalienated  lands  in  that  colony,  which  then  included 
both  the  Victoria  and  the  Queensland  of  the  present  day. 

This  Order,  which  had  and  has  all  the  strength  of  an  Act 
of  Parliament,  having  been  issued  in  conformity  with  the 
express  injunctions  of  an  Act  of  Parliament,  divides  the 
public  lands  into  three  classes — a  settled  district,  an  inter- 
mediate district,  and  an  unsettled  district,  and  it  describes, 
as  accurately  as  it  can  do,  by  the  names  of  towns,  counties, 
and  rivers,  the  boundaries  of  each.  Our  concern  at  present 
is  with  the  unsettled  districts,  over  which,  more  extensively 
from  year  to  year,  the  Australian  wool-growers  run  their 
flocks  of  sheep.  The  settled  districts  consisted  chiefly  of 
lands  lying  contiguous  to  towns  or  townships,  and  did  not 
much  concern  the  squatter.  The  intermediate  districts  were 
wider,  and  did  concern  the  squatter, — but  as  to  them  he 


78  Victoria. 

makes  no  complaint.  The  Order  in  Council  enacted  that 
in  using  such  land  he  should  practically  have  no  more 
than  one  year's  tenure.  If  he  chose  to  occupy  such  land 
with  his  sheep, — and  these  lands  were  so  occupied  almost 
exclusively, — he  did  so  with  the  knowledge  that  any  portion 
of  them  might  be  thrown  open  to  sale  at  a  year's  notice. 
They  were  thrown  open  for  sale,  and  have  been  purchased, 
chiefly  by  the  squatters  themselves.  In  regard  to  the 
unsettled  districts  it  stipulates  that  the  squatters  shall  have 
a  lease  of  fourteen  years,  that  they  shall  pay  a  rental  calcu- 
lated at  the  rate  of  J~2  10s.  per  thousand  sheep  for  such  a 
number  as  the  run  may  by  survey  be  computed  to  be  able 
to  carry,  that  during  their  leases  and  at  the  end  of  their 
leases  they  shall  have  a  "  pre-emptive  "  right  of  purchase  at 
some  price  not  less  than  20s.  an  acre,  and  that  "  during  the 
continuance  of  any  lease  of  lands  occupied  as  a  run,  the 
same  shall  not  be  open  to  purchase  by  any  other  person  or 
persons  except  the  lessee  thereof."  The  governor,  however, 
has  reserved  to  him  the  power  of  selling  or  otherwise  dispos- 
ing of  any  special  portion  of  land,  the  sale  of  which,  or  alie- 
nation of  which  by  other  means,  may  be  required  for  the 
public  good.  It  can  be  sold,  for  instance,  if  wanted  for  a 
village,  for  a  railway,  for  a  church  or  school,  for  a  mine, 
"  or  for  any  other  purpose  of  public  defence,  safety,  utility, 
convenience,  or  enjoyment,  or  for  otherwise  facilitating  the 
improvement  and  settlement  of  the  colony."  "  Hinc  ilia? 
lachrymal"  These  words  are  very  wide, — and  from  the 
extreme  latitude  given  to  them,  or  rather  imposed  on  them, 
by  governors,  colonial  cabinet  ministers,  and  legislators  have 
come  the  wailings  and  moanings  of  which  Mr.  Campbell 
eighteen  years  since  was  the  eloquent  expositor,  and  which 
are  still  heard  at  large  through  the  colony. 

I  think  that  no  man  of  common  sense,  who  understands 
the  ordinary  meaning  of  words,  can  doubt  that  the  Order  in 
Council  intended  to  defend  the  lands  leased  to  the  squatters 
from  all  sale  except  when  special  plots  were  required  for 
special  purposes.  It  was  not  intended  that  the  land  should 
be  thrown  open  to  sale  generally,  in  order  that  the  improve- 
ment and  settlement  of  the  colony  might  be  facilitated  by 


LAND.  1g 

such  proceeding.  If  so,  why  all  these  words  ?  If  so,  why 
defend  the  squatters  at  all  from  the  aggression  of  purchasers 
by  a  special  Act  of  Parliament  and  a  special  Order  in 
Council?  The  Act  of  1846,  and  the  Order  in  Council 
founded  on  it,  may  have  been  injudicious  in  conferring  privi- 
leges with  too  open  a  hand  upon  the  squatters.  I  think 
myself  that  such  was  the  case.  But  the  favours  were  con- 
ferred ;  and  in  any  further  operations  either  of  the  imperial 
or  colonial  parliaments  the  rights  so  given  should  have  been 
regarded  as  far  as  the  vested  interests  of  the  existing  holders 
were  concerned.  It  was  surely  a  quibble  to  say  that  any 
governor, — as  long  as  the  governors  were  the  responsible 
agents, — or  any  land  minister  when  ministers  were  respon- 
sible,— could  sell  these  lands  without  doing  violence  to  the 
Order  in  Council,  because  they  were  empowered  to  do  so  by 
the  clause  in  reference  to  the  improvement  and  settlement 
of  the  colony. 

But  this  was  done.  The  lands  were  put  up  to  sale, 
because,  as  was  asserted,  townships  would  be  beneficial,  and 
it  was  expedient  that  there  should  be  land  to  be  had  for 
agricultural  purposes  in  the  neighbourhood  of  townships. 
My  sympathies  are  all  on  behalf  of  the  townships  and  the 
agricultural  lands.  But  a  bargain  is  a  bargain,  and  a  law  is 
a  law ;  and  one's  sense  of  justice  is  offended  by  any  escape 
from  a  bargain  or  from  a  law  by  a  verbal  quibble.  The 
nature  of  the  quibble,  and  the  ease  with  which  an  Act  of 
Parliament  may  be  thrown  open  to  a  coach  and  horses,  is 
made  ludicrously  apparent  by  a  legal  opinion  which  the 
squatters  got  from  our  side  of  the  water.  They  were  much 
enraged,  and  determined  to  defend  themselves,  if  there  could 
be  any  defence,  in  the  courts  of  law.  So  they  sent  home 
for  an  opinion  to  no  less  a  person  and  no  less  a  lawyer  than 
our  late  Lord  Chancellor,  who  was  then  Mr.  Roundell 
Palmer.  Probably  the  opinion  of  no  English  lawyer  on 
such  a  subject  would  carry  more  confidence  than  his.  Mr. 
Palmer's  opinion  was  as  follows  : — 

"I  am  of  opinion  that  Mr.  Forlonge  " — Mr.  Forlonge's  case  having 
been  that  which  was  chosen  for  reference — "has  a  clear  and  indisput- 
able right  to  the  leases ;  but  inasmuch  as  they  are  to  be  granted  by  the 


So  VICTORIA. 

authority  of  the  governor,  who  represents  the  Crown,  and  no  form  of 
judicial  proceeding  against  the  governor  is  provided  by  the  Act  of 
Parliament,  or  the  regulations,  I  do  not  think  lie  has  a  specific  remedy 
to  compel  the  execution  of  such  leases.  At  present,  however,  he  has  a 
complete  equitable  title,  which  the  courts  of  justice  in  the  colony  would, 
I  conceive,  be  bound  and  authorised  to  recognise,  and  to  protest 
against  any  illegal  encroachments,  whether  by  the  executive  govern- 
ment or  by  private  persons. 

"  I  am  clearly  of  opinion  that  neither  of  the  sections  referred  to  gives 
the  governor  power  to  withdraw  any  part  of  the  runs  in  question — ■ 
assuming,  as  I  do,  that  no  forfeiture  has  taken  place- — for  the  purposes 
of  sale  to  private  persons. 

"I  think  Mr.  Forlonge  will  be  entitled  to  the  right  of  pre-emption 
under  sixth  section. 

"There  is  no  course  open  for  Mr.  Forlonge,  that  I  am  aware  of,  ex- 
cept to  appeal  to  the  courts  of  justice  in  case  of  any  illegal  disturbance 
of  his  possessions. 

"Roundell  Palmer. 

"  Lincoln's  Inn,  26(h  July,  1853." 

From  this  I  think  it  will  be  manifest  that,  though  Mr. 
Palmer  held  a  strong  opinion  on  Mr.  Forlonge's  rights,  he 
was  very  far  from  being  assured  of  Mr.  Forlonge's  power  to 
enforce  those  rights.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  Mr.  For- 
longe's rights,  and  as  little  that  he  was  not  able  to  enforce 
them. 

Mr.  Campbell  quotes  with  evident  glee  another  opinion 
equally  in  his  favour,  and  that  from  an  enemy, — and,  as  it 
happens,  from  a  person  almost  as  great  in  the  world  as  our 
late  Lord  Chancellor,  namely,  from  our  late  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer.  But  he  appeals  to  Mr.  Lowe  as  to  an 
enemy,  and  shows  what  evidence  he  can  adduce  to  support 
his  own  views  even  from  a  foe.  Mr.  Lowe,  when  a  colonist, 
was  supposed  to  be  inimical  to  the  views  of  the  squatters, 
and  disapproved  of  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  1846  and  the 
Order  in  Council  founded  upon  it.  From  an  address  which 
he  made  in  1847,  Mr.  Campbell  quotes  the  following  pas- 
sage : — "  Once  grant  these  leases,  and  beyond  the  settled 
districts  there  will  be  no  land  to  be  sold.  The  lessees  will 
have  a  right  to  hold  these  lands  till  some  one  will  give  £i 
an  acre  lor  them.  These  leases  cannot  be  sold,  mortgaged, 
or  sublet.  Be  the  capabilities  of  these  lands  what  they  may, 
they  are  to  be  sheep-walks  for  ever."     It  was  clearly  Mr. 


LAND.  Ci 

Lowe's  opinion,  when  he  spoke  those  words,  that  the 
squatters  would  be  protected  by  the  Order  in  Council  against 
disturbance  from  purchasers,  and  that  they  would  enjoy  the 
right  of  pre-emption  themselves  if  that  Order  were  made. 
But  the  opinions  held  by  Mr.  Lowe  as  a  politician,  and 
expressed  by  Mr.  Rounded  Palmer  as  a  lawyer,  have  been 
of  no  avail.  The  Order  in  Council  was  disregarded,  and 
the  free-selecters  were  let  in  upon  the  lands  of  the  squatters. 
I  doubt  much  whether  it  will  now  be  worth  the  while  of 
any  ordinary  English  reader  to  trouble  himself  with  these 
matters.  The  chief  of  the  lands  of  Victoria  have  settled 
themselves  down  into  the  hands  of  undoubted  owners, — and 
as  to  what  remains,  the  present  law,  though  it  may  be 
arbitrary,  is  clear.  Mr.  Campbell  and  his  associate  squatters 
cannot  now  gain  anything,  and  are  as  little  likely  to  lose 
anything,  by  the  future  doings  of  the  colonial  legislature. 
Lord  Selborne's  opinion  and  Mr.  Lowe's  oratory  are  equally 
inefficacious.  The  thing  is  a  thing  completed.  But  it  is 
impossible  to  understand  the  completion  without  looking 
back  to  the  manner  in  which  it  was  accomplished.  In  the 
Australian  colonies  there  is  growing  up  a  rich  landed  aris- 
tocracy, already  surrounding  itself  with  all  the  feelings  which 
attach  to  land  in  the  old  country.  Captain  Macarthur,  with 
his  first  importation  of  sheep,  might  be  said  to  be  the  creator 
of  this  condition  of  things,  were  it  not  that  it  is  a  condition 
peculiarly  conformable  to  the  English  mind  in  general,  so 
that  it  was  in  truth  created  to  hand  before  Captain  Macar- 
thur ever  owned  a  sheep.  It  is  clear  that  such  feelings 
would  be  fostered  and  brought  into  prominence  by  a  pas- 
toral and  therefore  patriarchal  life.  Squatter  added  himself 
to  squatter,  often  suffering  much,  sometimes  going  quite  to 
the  wall,  struggling  frequently  with  untoward  circumstances, 
— with  insufficient  capital,  with  clever  and  greedy  merchants, 
with  insolent  servants,  with  unforeseen  causes  of  decay 
among  his  flocks,  —  sometimes  with  ill-conduct,  idleness, 
profligacy,  and  extravagance  on  his  own  part ;  but  his  lot, 
on  the  whole,  was  a  blessed  lot,  and  he  prospered  marvel- 
lously. For  a  while  it  did  seem  as  though  the  whole 
country  would  fall  into  his  hands,  and  that  the  people  of 

G 


82  VICTORIA. 

Australia  would  consist  of  squatters  and  their  servants. 
Very  much  has  been  said,  and  is  repeated  from  day  to  day, 
of  what  is  due  to  the  squatters  as  the  pioneers  of  Australian 
civilisation.  I  do  not  think  very  much  of  the  claim.  When 
a  man  encounters  danger  manifestly  for  the  sake  of  others, 
— that  knowledge  may  grow  and  science  progress,  and  the 
world  be  opened  to  new-comers,  as  did  such  men  as  Colum- 
bus and  Cook,  as  many  Australian  explorers  did,  as  Living- 
stone was  doing  till  he  died  the  other  day  in  the  doing  of  it, 
■ — he  is  entitled  to  public  recognition  and  honour.  But  he 
can  hardly  with  justice  put  forward  the  same  claim  because 
he  seeks  fortune  for  himself  in  stormy  paths.  He  probably 
counts  his  chances,  and,  seeing  personal  security  with  ten 
per  cent,  at  home,  with  forty  per  cent,  and  not  improbable 
annihilation  at  the  hands  of  a  savage  at  the  Antipodes, 
chooses  forty  per  cent,  and  the  Antipodes  with  his  eyes 
open.  I  admire  his  courage,  and  applaud  his  decision. 
But  I  cannot  admit  his  claim  as  a  great  public  benefactor, 
because  he  has  thriven  and  others  have  followed  him.  He 
has  his  reward.  It  is  the  reward  which  honest,  energetic 
men  should  seek.  But  I  have  heard  the  Australian  squatter, 
when  discussing  these  matters,  continually  assert  that  he  and 
his  interests  should  be  especially  regarded,  because  he  has 
been  the  pioneer  of  the  country.  He  has  been  the  pioneer 
of  his  own  fortune ;  and  I  have  been  rejoiced  to  find  how 
often  that  fortune  has  been  noble  and  even  princely. 

The  Order  in  Council,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  was  clearly 
made  in  the  interests  of  the  squatters,  and  was  therefore,  of 
course,  objectionable  to  the  anti-squatting  interests.  In  my 
own  opinion  it  was  not  judicious.  If  followed  to  the  letter 
it  would,  as  Mr.  Lowe  said,  have  barred  the  land  against 
new-comers,  and  have  perpetuated  wool-growing  upon  soil 
adapted  for  purposes  more  beneficial  to  mankind  at  large. 
I  do  not  think  that  there  was  any  just  claim  at  the  time  on 
the  part  of  the  squatters  to  such  favours  as  were  conferred 
upon  them.  The  first  object  of  the  mother  country,  or  of 
those  to  whose  hands  were  confided  for  the  time  the  duty  of 
legislating  for  the  colonies,  was  to  prepare  homes  for  the 
increasing  hordes  of  colonists.    The  wool-growers  had  spread 


LAND.  83 

themselves  over  lands  which  did  not  belong  to  them,  and 
which  they  occupied — no  doubt  with  proper  sanction — as 
waste  lands.  Three  acres  to  a  sheep,  which  sheep  would 
produce  annually  about  5s.  worth  of  wool,  may  be  taken  as 
a  fair  statement  of  the  condition  of  their  affairs.  As  long  as 
land  could  be  converted  to  no  better  purpose  it  was  well 
that  it  should  serve  this  purpose.  As  far  as  we  can  see  at 
present,  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  lands  of  Australia  can 
be  made  to  serve  no  better  purpose.  It  is  doubtless  a  fact 
that  Australia  first  grew  to  prosperity  by  means  of  wool.  At 
the  present  moment,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  pride  which 
she  feels  in  her  gold-fields,  I  put  more  confidence  in  her 
wool  than  I  do  in  her  gold.  I  look  upon  the  wool-growers 
of  Australia  as  her  aristocracy,  her  gentry,  her  strong  men, 
her  backbone.  But,  in  managing  the  affairs  of  this  world, 
I  do  not  like  the  theory  of  giving  to  those  who  have  got 
much,  and  taking  away  from  those  who  have  got  nothing.  If 
in  1847  the  general  welfare  of  the  colonists  demanded  that  the 
lands  of  the  colony  should  be  thrown  open  to  general  sale, 
there  was  certainly  nothing  specially  due  to  the  squatters 
which  should  have  interfered  with  such  a  policy. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  a  system  of  leases  to  the 
squatters  was  quite  compatible  with  a  system  of  free-selec- 
tion and  open  sale,  that  such  a  combination  is  now  the  law, 
with  various  modified  circumstances,  in  the  different  Aus- 
tralian colonies,  and  that  under  it  the  squatters  have  grown 
rich  and  thriven, — unless  when  shut  out  from  success  by  other 
circumstances,  such  as  want  of  capital.  The  free-selecter 
will  not  select  land  serviceable  only  ior  pastoral  purposes, 
or  will  ruin  himself  at  once  if  he  do  so.  He  selects  patches 
of  land,  and  leaves  the  wild  boundless  prairies  to  the  squatter. 
No  doubt  in  Victoria  the  land  has  been  bought  up  very  much 
more  extensively  than  in  the  other  colonies  ;  but  the  history 
of  these  sales  proves  two  points,  both  of  which  militate  against 
the  squatter's  plaintive  view  of  the  matter.  It  shows  that  very 
much  of  the  land  was  fit  for  higher  than  pastoral  purposes, 
and  that  therefore  the  adapting  of  it  to  such  higher  purposes 
was  proper.  And  it  shows  also  that  the  prosperity  of  the 
squatters  had  not  been  seriously  damaged,  as   they  them- 


84  VICTORIA. 

selves  have  been  the  great  purchasers  of  land  from  one  end 
of  the  colony  to  the  other. 

The  Act  of  Parliament  of  1846,  and  the  Order  in  Council 
of  the  following  year,  were  surely  issued  in  a  spirit  of 
unnecessary  tenderness  for  the  squatter.  The  result  of  this 
tenderness  was  disobedience  to  their  spirit.  The  colony  of 
Victoria,  whether  by  its  governor  or  subsequently  by  its 
own  parliament,  upset  the  Order  in  Council.  Our  great 
English  lawyer  declared  very  plainly  the  strength  of  Mr. 
Forlonge's  undoubted  legal  rights.  But  Mr.  Forlonge  and 
his  brethren  did  not  get  their  legal  rights.  They  only  got 
what  should  have  been  their  rights.  That  such  a  course  lias 
in  the  long  run  been  greatly  for  the  advantage  of  the  squat- 
ters will  hardly  be  doubted  by  a  looker-on  from  a  distance. 
No'  law  can  render  permanent  injustice  endurable  to  a  com- 
munity. As  it  is  the  squatters  hold  their  own,  and  can  hold 
it  with  a  tight  hand.  The  public  feeling  that  if  thay  have 
had  some  favour  shown  them  they  have  also  had  some  dis- 
favour, gives  them  strength.  Nothing  ruins  so  surely  as 
uninterrupted  and  partial  privileges.  Nothing  strengthens 
so  healthily  as  bearable  wrongs.  The  Victorian  squatter  has 
suffered  no  more  than  parental  scourges. 

But  indeed  the  Victorian  squatter  has  almost  ceased  to 
exist, — for  the  squatter,  properly  so  called,  is  he  who  runs 
his  flocks  upon  crown  lands.  The  Victorian  wool-grower 
has  generally  purchased  his  run  and  owns  it  in  fee, — as  does 
also  the  Victorian  grazier,  who  is  as  great  a  man  as  the  wool- 
grower.  Were  I  to  attempt  to  describe  the  manner  in 
which  the  lands  of  the  colony  have  been  purchased,  I  might 
devote  a  volume  to  the  subject,  and  years  to  the  study  of  it 
before  I  could  write  the  volume.  It  seems  to  have  been 
the  object  of  the  legislature  to  prevent  the  absorption  of 
large  tracts  of  land  by  great  capitalists,  and  to  create  a 
yeomanry  possessing  freeholds.  The  result  has  been  directly 
opposite  to  the  intended  purpose.  The  yeomanry,  such  as 
it  is,  can  hardly  as  yet  be  regarded  as  a  prosperous  people. 
Their  lands  pass  frequently  from  hand  to  hand.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  strong  race  of  territorial  magnates  has 
created  itself,  so  wealthy  and  so  extensive  that  the  political 


LAND.  85 

power  of  the  country  is  inefficacious  against  them.  Laws 
have  been  passed  with  the  express  intention  of  keeping  the 
lands  out  of  the  squatters'  hands.  Nevertheless  the  squat- 
ters have  bought  the  lands.  There  have  been  subterfuges, 
chicanery,  bribery,  the  driving  of  many  coaches  through  many 
Acts  of  Parliament.  The  squatters  no  doubt  have  been 
subjected  to  cruel  ill-usage  by  a  tribe  of  land-sharks.  Men 
have  lived  and  made  fortunes  by  threatening  to  bid  for  land 
against  the  squatters,  unless  paid  exorbitantly  for  bidding  on 
their  behalf.  The  poor  squatters  have  bled  at  all  pores.  But 
they  have  had  the  blood  to  give,  and  now  they  own  the  land. 

I  have  said  that  the  lands  of  Victoria  have  been  for  the 
most  part  sold.  This,  no  doubt,  is  the  case  in  regard  to  the 
colony  at  large,  and  the  traveller  as  he  travels  through  the 
better-known  and  better-cultivated  parts  of  it, — especially 
those  western  regions  which  were  at  one  time  called  Aus- 
tralia Felix, — will  find  that  he  passes  from  one  property  to 
another,  much  in  the  same  fashion  as  he  will  do  at  home. 
But  Victoria  is  a  large  place,  and  there  is  still  very  much 
land  open  for  purchase  from  the  government.  The  existing 
law  under  which  land  can  be  bought  is  as  follows  : — 

The  intending  purchaser,  having  selected  his  block  of  land, 
which  must  not  exceed  half  a  square  mile,  or  320  acres, 
applies  for  a  licence  to  occupy  it  for  three  years  as  a  tenant 
at  a  rent  of  2s.  an  acre.  The  law  states  that  this  licence, 
may  be  granted  by  the  governor,  but  in  fact  the  power  rests 
with  a  member  of  the  cabinet,  who  is  called  the  Commissioner 
of  Lands.  One  half-year's  rent  must  be  paid  in  advance,  and 
for  the  three  years  he  continues  to  pay  at  the  rate  of  2.5-.  an 
acre.  At  the  end  of  the  three  years,  provided  the  selecter 
shall  then  have  fenced  his  land  and  have  cultivated  one- 
tenth  of  it,  he  can  become  the  freeholder  by  paying  14J.  an 
acre  down,  or  he  can  continue  to  pay  a  rental  for  seven 
years  at  the  rate  of  2s.  an  acre,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the 
land  will  be  his.  He  thus,  in  fact,  pays  a  rental  of  2s.  an 
acre  for  ten  years,  and  then  becomes  the  owner  of  the  land 
without  further  purchase-money.  The  terms  are  very  easy, 
and  it  is  certain  that  there  is  still  land  to  be  bought  in 
Victoria  on  those  terms.,  which  is  worth  much  more  than 


86  VICTORIA. 

the  money  required  for  it.  But  there  are  two  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  the  free-selecter ; — he  may  not  know  how  to 
choose  his  land,  and,  when  he  has  made  his  choice,  his 
application  may  be  unsuccessful. 

That  many  men  choose  amiss  in  this  colony  and  others 
is  too  true.  They  are  in  a  hurry  for  possession.  They  do 
not  know  the  circumstances  of  the  country  or  district  which 
affect  the  land, — such  as  the  prevalence  of  drought,  the 
prevalence  of  rust  in  the  wheat,  the  difficulty  of  finding  a 
market,  the  cost  of  labour,  and  the  like.  They  have  no 
friend  capable  of  giving  counsel,  or,  more  probably,  they 
have  a  friend  who  has  some  interest  of  his  own  in  the 
transaction .  One's  heart  bleeds  at  hearing  of  the  unfortunate 
purchases  sometimes  made  by  new-comers,  and  one  thinks 
of  Cairo  and  Martin  Chuzzlewit.  As  to  that  want  of  suc- 
cess in  the  application,  I  feel  that  I  tread  on  somewhat 
delicate  ground  in  alluding  to  it.  One  supposes  naturally 
that  if  the  applicant  comply  with  all  the  required  stipula- 
tions and  have  his  money  in  his  hands,  he  will  be  successful 
as  a  matter  of  course.  AVhy  not  ?  And  if  he  be  not  so,  on 
what  ground  and  in  whose  bosom  shall  rest  the  decision  of 
granting  this  application  and  refusing  that  ?  I  must  say 
that  if  there  be  no  other  ground  than  that  of  fitness, — if 
nothing  else  than  the  character  and  means  of  the  applicant 
be  considered  in  granting  and  refusing  these  applications, — 
the  minister  of  the  day  who  happens  to  be  Commissioner  of 
Lands  is  at  the  same  time  the  best  and  the  worst  abused 
man  in  the  colony.  It  is  asserted  everywhere  that  the  sales 
of  land  are  effected  with  direct  reference  to  political  sup- 
port, and  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  a  land  minister  to 
carry  on  his  work  in  the  colony  on  any  other  basis.  This 
system  of  political  corruption,  of  using  the  patronage  and 
discretion  of  the  government  to  bolster  up  the  power  of  the 
government,  from  which  we  are  only  now  emerging  at  home, 
is  in  truth  so  rampant  in  Victoria  that  honest  men,- — in  no 
wise  concerned  in  the  matter,  but  who  have  become  used 
to  it  by  daily  observation, — have  learned  to  think  that  it  is 
a  necessary  part  of  government.  Remembering  how  offices 
in  England  were  given  away  in  my  own  time,  how  some 


LAND.  87 

are  given  still,  solely  on  the  score  of  political  subserviency, 
I  do  not  feel  justified  in  expressing  great  indignation  at  this 
practice  in  the  colonies.  It  will  doubtless  pass  away.  But 
the  wrongful  exercise  of  patronage  in  a  young  colony  is  a 
much  smaller  fault  than  an  unjust  political  manipulation 
in  the  distribution  of  public  lands. 

It  is  especially  stipulated  by  the  Victorian  land  law  that 
no  one  person,  either  in  his  own  name  or  that  of  another, 
shall  select  and  purchase  above  320  acres, — the  object 
being  to  prevent  the  accumulation  of  large  landed  estates. 
But  the  clause  has  been  constantly  set  at  nought.  If  I  buy 
one  section  for  myself,  and  nine  other  adjacent  sections 
through  the  friendly  assistance  of  nine  "  dummies,"  as  they 
are  called,  how  can  a  land  commissioner,  with  a  whole 
colony  on  his  hands,  discern  the  fraud  ?  And  if  I  be  true 
to  the  party  which  have  put  him  into  office,  why  should  he 
wish  to  discern  it  ?  Without  a  doubt  the  squatters  them- 
selves, who  are  loud  against  the  lawlessness  of  Victorian 
legislation,  have  been  the  most  constant  in  evading  the 
laws.  Their  success  makes  it  impossible  for  the  stranger  to 
condole  with  their  wrongs.  i\t  the  end  of  this  volume,  as 
an  appendix,  will  be  found  a  digest  of  the  present  land  laws 
of  Victoria,  as  far  as  they  refer  to  free-selection.  This 
digest  is  taken  from  MacPhaile's  Australian  Squatting 
Directory. 

They  who  are  still  really  squatters  in  Victoria, — who  run 
their  sheep  on  public  lands,  and  not  on  their  own, — now 
pay  a  pastoral  rent  of  8d.  a  sheep,  or  ^33  6s.  8d.  per  thou- 
sand. The  old  rental  as  fixed  by  the  Order  in  Council  in  1847 
Avas  £2  10s.  per  thousand.  The  rental  at  present  paid  is 
four  times  higher  than  that  collected  in  either  of  the  other 
Australian  colonies.  But  the  bulk  of  the  Victorian  wool  is 
grown  by  men  who  own  the  land  which  produces  it. 

I  found  that  the  system  of  landlord  and  tenant — with 
which  we  are  so  familiar  at  home  as  almost  to  have  con- 
ceived the  idea  that  land  cannot  be  occupied  on  any  other 
system — does  prevail  in  certain  parts  of  Victoria.  I  visited 
a  district  in  which  large  wheat  farms  were  held  by  tenants, 
and  I  was  told  of  rents  varying  from  5s.  to  i$s.  an  acre. 


88  VICTORIA. 

But  it  did  not  appear  that  the  tenant-farmers  were  a  pros- 
perous class,  or  that  the  letting  of  land  was  popular  among 
landowners.  In  some  instances  a  whole  property  is  let  with 
the  stock  upon  it,  and  I  have  heard  of  as  much  as  ;£  10,000 
a  year  being  paid  for  a  sheep-run  with  the  use  of  the  sheep 
on  it ;  but  in  speaking  of  the  letting  of  land  of  course  I  do 
not  allude  to  such  cases  as  this.  The  small  tenant-farmer 
in  the  colonies  is  seldom  a  man  of  means.  Did  he  possess 
capital  he  would  buy  his  farm.  Not  possessing  capital  he 
cannot  pay  his  rent  when  bad  years  come ; — and  it  almost 
seemed  that,  as  far  as  the  produce  of  wheat  went,  bad  years 
were  as  common  as  good  years  in  Victoria.  The  ground 
produced  enormously, — with  most  generous  vigour,  I  must 
say,  considering  how  little  is  restored  to  it.  But  the  climate 
is  uncertain,  and  the  disease  called  the  rust  is  pernicious. 
One  gentleman,  who  owned  a  large  tract  of  corn-bearing 
land,  assured  me  that  he  much  preferred  selling  portions  of 
his  property,  even  though  the  purchase-money  were  left  on 
mortgage,  to  accepting  a  promise  of  yearly  rent  for  the  use 
of  his  land. 

I  have  said  that  the  public  lands  are  alienated  in  fee  for  a 
rental  of  2s.  an  acre  for  ten  years,  and  that  tenant-farmers 
pay  rents  varying  from  $s.  to  15J.  an  acre, — the  payment  of 
which  for  any  number  of  years  gives,  of  course,  no  title  to 
possession.  It  is  presumed  that  the  reader  will  understand 
that  the  public,  or  crown,  lands  spoken  of  are  uncultivated, 
unfenced,  and  probably  covered  with  timber.  The  farm 
lands  let  for  the  higher  rentals  named  have  been  brought 
into  cultivation,  have  been  farmed,  and  are  supposed  to  be 
capable  of  bearing  corn. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LADIES    AND    GENTLEMEN. 

A  writer  attempting  to  describe  England,  and  capable  of. 
doing  so,  would  fill  those  chapters  with  the  strongest  interest 
in  which  he  painted  the  various  forms  of  English  country- 
lire.  He  would  know,  and  he  would  teach  his  readers,  that 
the  English  character,  with  its  faults  and  virtues,  its  pre- 
judices and  steadfastness,  can  be  better  studied  in  the 
mansions  of  noblemen,  in  country-houses,  in  parsonages,  in 
farms,  and  small  meaningless  towns,  than  in  the  great  cities, 
devoted  as  is  London  to  politics  and  gaiety,  or  as  are 
Glasgow,  Manchester,  Birmingham,  and  others  like  them,  to 
manufactures  and  commerce.  I  doubt  whether  this  be  so 
in  any  other  country.  France  has  many  aspects,  but  the 
Parisian  aspect  is  more  French  than  any  other.  Italy  is  to 
be  seen  only  in  her  cities.  In  the  United  States  the  towns 
altogether  overrule  and  subdue  the  country,  so  that  the 
traveller  who  visits  America  under  the  most  favourable  cir- 
cumstances rarely  sees  aught  of  her  corn-fields  and  pastures, 
except  in  passing  from  one  great  centre  of  population  to 
another.  But  the  visitors  to  England  who  have  not 
sojourned  at  a  country-house,  whether  it  be  squire's,  par- 
son's, or  farmer's,  have  not  seen  the  most  English  phase  of 
the  country. 

The  same  form  and  fashion  of  life  is  repeating  itself  in  the 
Australian  colonies.  The  race  of  farmers,  such  as  are  our 
own  well-to-do  farmers  at  home,  does  not,  indeed,  exist.  The 
clergy  are  scattered  at  long  distances,  and  hardly  as  yet  form 
a  distinctive  social  class, — probably  never  will  do  so  as  they 


90  VICTORIA. 

do  in  England,  and  in  England  only.  But  the  country 
gentlemen,  almost  all  of  whom  were  originally  squatters, 
have  fixed  their  homes  about  the  colony,  and  have  built 
their  houses, — not  exactly  after  the  English  fashion  in  regard 
to  architecture,  because  the  climate  is  of  a  different  nature, 
■ — but  with  the  English  appurtenances  of  substantial  comfort, 
with  many  rooms,  with  gardens,  outhouses,  and  lawns,  and 
with  sweeping  roads  leading  through  timbered  parks  to  the 
retired  abode  of  the  rural  magistrate  who  owns  the  property. 
The  visitor  to  Australia,  who  goes  there  under  favourable 
auspices,  will  as  surely  find  himself  pressed  to  make  his 
home  at  such  country  houses,  as  will  the  stranger  in  the 
United  States  be  asked  to  enjoy  the  luxurious  hospitality  of 
her  rich  citizens,  either  in  city  mansions  or  in  suburban 
villas.  And  such  a  one,  if  he  have  time  on  his  hands,  and 
can  dally  with  weeks  in  idleness,  may  pass  from  station  to 
station, — from  one  gentleman's  house  to  another, — till  he 
will  hardly  know  who  has  sent  him  on,  or  on  what  ground 
he  bases  his  claim  to  the  hospitality  of  his  new  friends. 

There  is  perhaps  more  of  this  in  Victoria  than  in  the 
other  colonies,  because  the  country  gentlemen  have  more 
thoroughly  established  their  fortunes  there  than  elsewhere  ; 
but  the  same  feeling  prevails  throughout  Australia,  and  the 
same  mode  of  life.  They  who  rise  to  the  top  of  the  tree, — or, 
in  other  words,  the  gentry,  if  I  may  use  a  phrase  which  is 
somewhat  invidious,  but  which  will  be  better  understood 
than  any  other, — seek  to  establish  country  houses  for  them- 
selves ;  and  homesteads  of  this  class  have  sprung  up  with 
incredible  rapidity.  Nothing,  I  think,  so  clearly  declares 
the  wealth  of  the  colony — which  is  not  yet  forty  years  old — 
as  the  solidity  of  her  country  life.  When  the  stranger  asks 
whence  came  these  country  gentlemen,  whom  he  sees  occa- 
sionally at  the  clubs  and  dinner-tables  in  Melbourne,  exactly 
as  he  finds  those  in  England  up  in  London  during  the  winter 
frosts,  or  in  the  month  of  May,  he  is  invariably  told  that  they 
or  their  fathers  made  their  own  fortunes.  This  man  and 
that  and  the  other  came  over  perhaps  from  Tasmania,  in  the 
early  days,  joint  owners  of  a  small  flock  of  sheep.  They 
generally  claim  to  have  suffered  every  adversity  with  which 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN. 


91 


Providence  and  unjust  legislators  could  inflict  a  wretched 
victim  ;  and,  as  the  result,  each  owns  so  many  thousand 
horned  cattle,  so  many  tens  of  thousand  sheep,  so  many 
square  miles  of  country,  and  so  many  thousands  a  year. 
Most  of  them  have,  I  think,  originally  come  out  of  Scotland. 
When  you  hear  an  absent  acquaintance  spoken  of  as  "Mac," 
you  will  not  at  all  know  who  is  meant,  but  you  may  safely 
conclude  that  it  is  some  prosperous  individual.  Some  were 
butchers,  drovers,  or  shepherds  themselves  but  a  few  years 
since.  But  they  now  form  an  established  aristocracy,  with 
very  conservative  feelings,  and  are  quickly  becoming  as  firm 
a  country  party  as  that  which  is  formed  by  our  squirearchy 
at  home. 

I  have  spoken  of  country  life  in  New  South  Wales 
without  reserve,  because  the  small  establishment  which  I 
described  belongs  to  my  own  son.  In  Victoria  I  visited 
many  houses  of  infinitely  greater  pretension,  but  I  fear  to 
speak  of  any  one  in  particular  lest  I  should  commit  that 
great  sin, — not  always  avoided  as  scrupulously  as  it  should 
be  by  travelling  authors, — of  putting  some  kind  host  into  a 
book,  with  his  wife,  family,  kitchen  and  cellars.  And  yet, 
if  it  be  possible,  I  would  fain  let  English  readers  know  what 
these  houses  are,  and  of  what  nature  is  the  life  contained  in 
them.  They  are  generally  less  remote  from  towns  than  are 
the  habitations  of  squatters  in  the  other  colonies, — the  towns 
being  more  numerous,  and  the  roads  more  formed.  The 
buildings  themselves  are  generally  of  two  stories, — always 
having  the  tropical  addition  of  a  verandah,  but  not  erected 
in  that  straggling,  many-roofed,  one-storied  fashion  which  is 
common  to  tropical  and  semi-tropical  countries.  I  like 
those  straggling  many-roofed  nests  of  cottages  which  are 
common  in  Queensland  and  New  South  Wales.  They 
betoken  a  gradually  increasing  prosperity.  The  squatter 
builds  first  a  wooden  hut  which  ultimately  becomes  his 
kitchen,  then  a  wooden  sitting-room  and  bedroom  near  to 
it ;  then  a  bigger  sitting-room  with  two  small  bedrooms,  still 
of  wood, — and  so  on.  But  when  he  has  realised  to  himself 
the  fact  that  he  is  a  rich  man  he  rushes  into  brick  and 
mortar  or  stone,  and  erects  a  European  country  house, — 


Q2  VICTORIA. 

with  the  addition  of  a  wide  verandah.  This  has  been  done 
now  very  generally  by  the  landowners  of  Victoria.  But  still 
the  place  has  rarely  all  the  finished  comfort,  the  easy  grace, 
coming  from  long  habit,  which  belong  to  our  country  seats 
at  home.  There  is  a  roughness  and  a  heaviness  about  it,  a 
want  of  completion  about  the  gardens,  of  neatness  about  the 
paths,  and  of  close-shorn  trimness  about  the  plots  and  lawns, 
which  strikes  the  beholder  at  once,  and  declares  that  though 
the  likeness  be  there,  it  exists  with  a  difference. 

This  difference  is  caused  chiefly  by  the  clearness  of 
labour,  a  fact  which  influences  not  only  the  outside  of  the 
Victorian  gentleman's  house,  but  also  every  part  of  his 
establishment.  Let  his  means  be  what  they  may.  he  never 
has  the  retinue  of  servants  which  is  to  be  found  in  an 
ordinary  English  household.  The  high  rate  of  wages  and 
the  difficulty  of  getting  persons  to  accept  these  high  rates 
for  any  considerable  number  of  months  together,  cause  even 
the  wealthy  to  dispense  with  much  of  that  attendance  which 
is  often  considered  indispensable  at  home  even  among 
families  that  are  not  wealthy.  On  the  other  hand,  certain 
luxuries  are  common  among  Australian  families,  which  few 
among  us  can  enjoy  without  stint.  He  who  has  a  carriage 
and  horses  at  home  is  supposed  to  be  a  rich  man.  If  a 
gentleman  have  daughters  fond  of  riding,  he  will  perhaps 
have  one  horse  for  two  girls.  Young  men  can  hardly  hunt 
unless  their  fathers  be  wealthy.  But  horses  on  an  Australian 
station  are  as  common  as  blackberries  on  English  hedges, 
and  the  possession  of  a  carriage  and  pair  of  horses  is  as 
much  a  matter  of  course  as  the  possession  of  a  pair  of  boots. 
But  horses  are  cheap  and  servants  are  dear  in  Victoria. 

I  have  spoken  of  sweeping  roads  through  timbered  parks. 
It  must  not,  however,  be  conceived  that  I  speak  of  parks 
such  as  those  which  are  the  glory  of  our  English  magnates. 
The  Australian  park  is  hitherto  much  as  nature  fashioned  it. 
The  trees  are  the  gum-trees  which  the  present  resident  or 
his  father  found  there  when  he  first  drove  his  sheep  on  the 
pastures  which  had  never  yet  known  the  foot  of  a  white 
man.  The  grasses  round  his  house  he  may  gradually  have 
changed,  and  have  extirpated  those  indigenous  to  the  soil 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN.  93 

by  the  use  of  English  seeds.  The  road  will  probably  be 
somewhat  rough,  and  the  fences  which  divide  the  paddocks 
still  rougher.  He  is  now  a  rich  man,  but  he  is  rich  because 
in  all  his  expenditure  he  has  thought  more  of  a  return  for 
his  capital  than  of  the  adornment  of  his  place.  He  calls  his 
park  a  paddock,  and  he  has  thought  only  of  the  welfare  of 
his  stock.  But,  nevertheless,  there  is  that  beauty  about  it 
which  trees  and  grass,  with  the  sky  above  them,  always 
produce.  And  the  territory  is  large  and  spacious,  and  all 
the  magnificence  of  ownership  is  there.  The  man  drives 
for  miles  through  his  own  land.  He  has  fortified  himself 
on  all  sides  against  free-selecters.  All  those  who  frequent 
the  place  are  his  servants  or  his  guests,  and  of  every  stranger 
whom  he  may  see  within  miles  of  his  house  he  is  entitled  to 
ask  why  he  is  there.  He  exercises  a  wide  hospitality  to  the 
poor  and  the  rich,  and  he  is  an  aristocrat. 

I  imagine  that  the  life  of  the  Victorian  landowner  is  very 
much  as  was  that  of  the  English  country  gentleman  a  cen- 
tury or  a  century  and  a  half  ago.  In  those  days  roads  in 
England  were  very  bad,  so  that  it  was  a  work  of  trouble  to 
get  from  one  house  to  another,  a  distance  of  twenty  miles. 
Country  houses  of  pretension  were  not  numerous  as  they 
are  now,  and  they  who  owned  the  halls  and  granges  scat- 
tered through  the  counties  rarely  moved  from  their  homes. 
There  was  great  plenty,  but  of  that  finished  luxury  which  is 
now  as  common  in  the  country  as  in  the  capital,  there  was 
but  little.  Roast  beef — or  in  winter  powdered  beef — and 
October  ale  were  the  fare.  The  men  were  fond  of  sport, 
but  they  did  not  go  far  afield  for  it  as  they  do  now,  hunting 
in  the  shires,  shooting  on  the  moors,  and  fishing  on  all  lakes 
and  rivers.  They  shot  over  their  own  lands,  and  hunted 
over  their  own  land  and  that  of  a  few  neighbours  who  would 
join  them.  The  ladies  stayed  at  home  and  looked  after  the 
house,  and  much  that  is  now  trusted  to  domestics  and 
stewards  was  done  by  the  mistress  and  her  daughters,  or  by 
the  master  and  his  sons.  The  owners  of  these  country 
houses  were  Tories,  aristocrats,  proud  gentlemen ;  but 
they  were  not  fine  gentlemen,  nor,  for  the  most  part,  were 
they  gentlemen  of  fine  tastes  in  art  or  literature.     We  know 


04  VICTORIA. 

them  very  well  from  plays  and  novels, — and  know  something 
of  them  too  from  history,  as  history  has  of  late  been  written. 
The  ladies'  dresses,  the  books,  the  equipages,  the  wines,  the 
kitchens,  which  are  now  found  in  English  country  houses, 
were  in  those  days  known  only  in  the  metropolis,  or  at  the 
castle  of  some  almost  royal  nobleman.  As  were  country 
houses  and  country  life  then  in  England,  plentiful,  proud, 
prejudiced,  given  to  hospitality,  impatient  of  contradiction, 
not  highly  lettered,  healthy,  industrious,  careful  of  the  main 
chance,  thoughtful  of  the  future,  and,  above  all,  conscious — 
perhaps  a  little  too  conscious — of  their  own  importance,  so 
now  is  the  house  and  so  is  the  life  of  the  country  gentleman 
in  Australia.  And  as  Justice  Shallow  in  times  still  farther 
distant  was  ever  anxious  as  to  the  price  of  a  good  yoke  of 
bullocks  or  a  score  of  ewes,  so  does  the  Australian  country 
gentleman  never  omit  his  solicitude  concerning  those  things 
which  have  made  him  what  he  is.  The  value  of  beef  in  the 
Melbourne  market,  and  of  wool  at  London,  are  continually 
in  his  thoughts,  and  as  continually  on  his  tongue,  even 
though  he  may  have  reached  that  stage  of  prosperity  which 
cannot  be  much  affected  by  the  transient  rise  or  fail  of 
prices.  He  has  not  at  any  rate  reached  that  condition, — be 
it  good  or  bad, — which  enables  the  English  country  gentle- 
man to  drop  all  outward  show  of  solicitude  for  the  trade  in 
which  he  is  embarked,  the  trade  namely  of  living  upon  his 
land,  and  to  pursue  the  unruffled  tenor  of  his  way  as  though 
all  good  things  came  to  him  and  were  sure  to  come  to  him 
like  manna  from  heaven.  The  Victorian  woohgrower  or 
grazier  will  be  sure  to  tell  you,  if  you  visit  him  in  his  own 
home,  what  has  been  his  produce  of  wool,  and  what  prices 
he  has  realised  for  it, — and  will  take  you  to  his  washpool,  if 
he  wash  his  sheep  before  shearing,  and  to  his  wool-shed ;  or 
he  will  show  you  his  Durhams  and  Herefords,  and  boast 
how  he  has  led  the  markets.  Out  of  the  full  heart  the 
mouth  speaks.  He  has  made  himself  what  he  is  by  his 
sheep  and  his  oxen,  and  the  sheep  and  the  oxen  are  still  dear 
to  him.  His  grandson  or  great-grandson  will  probably  be  as 
outwardly  indifferent  as  an  English  country  gentleman,  who 
is  no  more  given  to  talk  of  his  rents  than  a  banker  is  of  his 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN.  95 

profits,  and  who  is  concerned  wholly,  perhaps  with  his 
hounds,  perhaps  with  his  library,  perhaps  with  his  politics, 
or  perhaps  with  his  cook. 

Out-of-door  sports  do  not  form  so  prominent  a  part  of 
country  life  in  the  colonies  us  they  do  at  home,  partly 
because  there  are  not  so  many  idle  men,  and  partly  because 
there  has  not  been  as  yet  so  great  an  expenditure  of  money 
with  the  view  of  creating  sport.  As  years  pass  on  both 
these  causes  will  vanish.  The  idle  men  will  be  forthcoming, 
and  game,  brought  from  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland, 
will  be  naturalised  in  the  country.  Hares  in  Victoria  will 
be,  I  hope,  not  quite  so  plentiful  as  rabbits.  There  are 
deer  already  in  the  country,  and  they  will  soon  abound  with 
that  prolific  increase  which  seems  to  attend  all  animals 
brought  from  the  old  country  to  these  colonies.  Duck- 
shooting  is  much  practised,  and  ducks  abound.  Pheasants 
are  already  more  common  in  parts  of  New  Zealand  than  in 
England,  though  not  so  plentiful,  and  will  probably  become 
equally  common  in  Tasmania  and  Victoria.  I  despair, 
however,  of  fox-hunting.  I  think  it  improbable  that  that 
most  anomalous,  most  irrational,  most  exciting,  most  de- 
lightful, and  most  beneficent  sport  should  thrive  elsewhere 
on  the  world's  surface  than  in  the  British  Isles.  None  but 
the  British  and  Irish  farmer  will  bear  the  invasion  of  a 
troop  of  horsemen.  None  but  the  British  or  Irish  sportsman 
can  have  that  tenderness  in  preserving  and  that  stern  perse- 
verance in  killing  a  little  vermin,  which  fox-hunting  re- 
quires. None  but  a  British  or  an  Irish  gentleman  can 
expend  thousands  in  furnishing  amusement  for  an  entire 
county. 

The  fault  of  a  country  home  in  the  Australian  colonies  is 
that  it  furnishes  but  little  employment,  and  that  its  ordinary 
life  seems  to  be  antagonistic  to  industry,  at  any  rate  on  the 
part  of  the  visitor.  The  master  of  the  house  is  or  is  not 
the  working  manager  of  his  property.  If  he  be  so,  his 
time  is  fully  occupied.  He  is  on  horseback  before  break- 
fast, and  seems  never  to  slacken  his  labours  till  the  evening 
dews  have  long  fallen.  The  exclusive  care  of  a  large  flock 
of    sheep, — which   includes    breeding,    feeding,    doctoring, 


96  VICTORIA. 

shearing,  selling  and  buying,  together  with  the  hiring,  feed- 
ing, inspection,  and  payment  of  a  great  number  of  by  no 
means  subservient  workmen, — taxes  a  man's  energies  to  the 
utmost.  Cattle  probably  impose  less  labour,  but  a  man 
will  have  his  hands  fairly  full  who  owns  three  or  four  thou- 
sand head  of  cattle,  who  breeds  them  by  his  own  judgment, 
and  himself  selects  them  for  market.  But  very  many 
squatters  and  graziers  really  manage  their  properties  by 
deputy.  Serviceable  men  have  grown  up  in  their  employ- 
ment, and  as  years  creep  on  the  real  work  of  the  run  is 
allowed  to  fall  from  their  own  hands  into  those  of  superin- 
tendents and  overseers.  Then  the  country  gentleman, 
though  he  still  talks  of  "  a  score  of  ewes  "  as  did  Justice 
Shallow,  becomes  an  idle  man.  He  comes  down  to  break- 
fast at  nine,  and  is  impatient  for  his  dinner  before  six, 
thinking  that  the  clock  must  be  losing  time.  The  ladies  no 
doubt  look  after  their  houses,  order  lunch  and  dinner,  and 
superintend  the  servants.  But  they  seem  to  be  insufficiently 
provided  with  occupations  over  and  above  these.  There  is 
a  piano  in  every  house.  There  are  always  books, — enough 
for  reading,  though  not  enough  for  literary  luxury.  There 
may  be  croquet  out  of  doors.  There  arediorses  to  ride; 
and  there  is  the  unlimited  bush,  with  its  magpies,  its  laugh- 
ing jackasses,  and  its  bell-birds,  if  you  be  good  at  walking. 
But  there  is  no  provision  made  for  the  passing  of  time. 
There  is  no  period  of  the  day  at  which  books  fall  naturally 
into  the  hands  of  men  and  women.  Loitering  is  common, 
and  the  hours  too  often  become  foes  instead  of  friends. 
This  is  specially  the  case  during  the  long  evenings.  I 
fancy  that  the  same  fault  might  have  been  found  with 
country  houses  in  England  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago. 

Eating  and  drinking  occupy  so  many  of  our  thoughts, 
and  contribute  so  much  to  the  excitement  and  to  the  amuse- 
ment of  life,  that  I  feel  myself  bound  to  say  something  of 
the  Victorian  country  gentleman's  taste.  No  table  more 
plentiful  or  more  hospitable  was  ever  spread.  Its  chief 
distinctive  feature  is  the  similarity  of  the  meals.  The 
breakfast  is  nearly  as  substantial  as  the  lunch  and  dinner, 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN.  97 

and  between  the  lunch  and  dinner  it  was  long  before  I  could 
find  out  any  difference.  Two  or  three  hot  joints  of  meat 
and  four  or  five  dishes  of  vegetables,  wine-decanters,  and 
not  uncommonly  a  teapot,  are  common  to  both  of  them. 
As  regarded  the  time  allowed,  or  the  appetite,  or  that  addi- 
tion to  appetite  which  greediness  furnishes  throughout  the 
world,  I  could  not  ascertain  that  there  was  any  distinction 
between  the  two.  With  us  at  home  the  cook  never  exerts 
herself, — or  himself, — for  lunch,  and  is  not  indeed  expected 
to  do  so.  The  Victorian  cook  is  equally  awake  all  the  day 
long.  At  last  I  perceived  that  at  luncheon  there  would 
never  be  more  than  two  puddings.  At  dinner  the  number 
was  not  limited.  As  a  rule,  gentlemen  in  the  colonies  do 
not  sit  long  over  their  wine ;  and,  as  a  rule,  also, — and 
rules,  of  course,  have  their  exceptions, — the  wine  is  not 
worth  a  long  sitting. 

But  these  little  details  of  which  I  have  spoken  do  but 
form  the  outside  skin  of  society,  whereas  the  bones,  the 
muscles,  the  blood,  and  the  flesh  consist  of  the  people  them- 
selves. Whether  men  and  women  dine  at  five  or  at  seven, 
whether  they  drive  out  regularly  or  irregularhy,  whether  they 
hunt  foxes  or  kangaroos,  drink  bad  wine  or  good,  matters 
little,  in  regard  to  social  delights,  in  comparison  with  the 
character,  the  manners,  and  the  gifts  of  the  men  and  women 
themselves.  In  describing  Victorians  of  the  upper  classes, 
and  of  the  two  sexes,  I  would  say  that  both  in  their  defects 
and  their  excellences  they  approach  nearer  to  the  American 
than  to  the  British  type.  And  in  this  respect  the  Victorian 
is  distinct  from  the  colonist  of  New  South  Wales,  who 
retains  more  of  the  John-Bull  attributes  of  the  mother 
country  than  his  younger  and  more  energetic  brother  in  the 
South.  This  is  visible,  I  think,  quite  as  much  in  the 
women  as  in  the  men.  I  am  speaking  now  especially  of 
those  women  whom  on  account  of  their  education  and  posi- 
tion we  should  class  as  ladies ;  but  the  remark  is  equally 
true  to  all  ranks  of  society.  The  maidservant  in  Victoria 
has  the  pertness,  the  independence,  the  mode  of  asserting 
by  her  manner  that  though  she  brings  you  up  your  hot 
water,  she  is  just  as  good  as  you, — and  a  good  deal  better 

H 


9«  VICTORIA. 

if  she  be  younger, — which  is  common  to  the  American 
"  helps."  But  in  Victoria,  as  in  the  States,  the  offensiveness 
of  this — for  to  us  who  are  old-fashioned  it  is  in  a  certain 
degree  offensive — is  compensated  by  a  certain  intelligence 
and  instinctive  good-sense  which  convinces  the  observer 
that  however  much  he  may  suffer,  however  heavily  the  young 
woman  may  tread  upon  his  toes,  she  herself  has  a  good 
time  in  the  world.  She  is  not  degraded  in  her  own  estima- 
tion by  her  own  employment,  and  has  no  idea  of  being 
humble  because  she  brings  you  hot  water.  And  when  we 
consider  that  the  young  woman  serves  us  for  her  own  pur- 
poses, and  not  for  ours,  we  cannot  rationally  condemn  her. 
The  spirit  which  has  made  this  bearing  so  common  in  the 
United  States, — where  indeed  it  is  hardly  so  universal  now 
as  it  used  to  be, — has  grown  in  Victoria  and  has  permeated 
all  classes.  One  has  to  look  very  closely  before  one  can 
track  it  out  and  trace  it  to  be  the  same  in  the  elegantly 
equipped  daughter  of  the  millionaire  who  leads  the  fashion 
in  Melbourne  and  in  the  little  housemaid ;  but  it  is  the 
same.  The  self-dependence,  the  early  intelligence,  the 
absence  of  reverence,  the  contempt  for  all  weakness, — even 
feminine  weakness, — the  indifference  to  the  claims  of  age, 
the  bold  self-assertion,  have  sprung  both  in  the  one  class 
and  in  the  other  from  the  rapidity  with  which  success  in  life 
has  been  gained.  The  class  of  which  I  am  now  specially 
speaking  is  an  aristocrat  class  ;  but  it  is  an  aristocracy  of 
yesterday ;  and  the  creation  of  such  an  aristocracy  does 
away  with  reverence  and  puts  audacity  in  its  place.  The 
young  housemaid  does  not  shake  in  her  shoes  before  you 
because  you  have  £i 0,000  a  year,  and  the  young  lady  has 
no  special  respect  for  you  because  you  are  her  father's  old 
friend.  Her  father  and  her  father's  friends  have  had  their 
time.  It  is  her  time  now.  It  is  for  her  to  stand  in  the 
middle  and  for  them  to  range  themselves  on  one  side.  She 
will  do  her  duty  by  her  father  and  mother, — but  she  does  it 
as  a  superior  person  attending  on  those  who  are  inferior. 
To  her  grandfather  and  her  grandmother  she  alludes  as  poor 
things  of  the  past,  to  whom  much  tenderness  is  due.  But 
the  attention  is  paid  after  a  fashion  which  seems  to  imply 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN.  99 

that  old  folk,  in  the  arrangements  of  life,  should  not  inter- 
fere with  their  betters  who  ar»  young.  Luckily  for  fathers 
and  grandfathers  in  Victoria  the  power  of  the  purse  remains 
with  them,  otherwise  they  would  I  fear  be  ciphers  in  the 
houses  that  were  once  their  own.  The  Australian  girls  and 
young  married  women  are  not  cruel,  false,  or  avaricious,  and 
I  will  not  call  them  Gonerils  and  Regans  ;  but  I  ha-ve  seen 
old  men  who  have  put  me  in  mind  of  Lear. 

There  is  a  manifest  difference  between  women  who  have 
come  out  from  England  and  those  who  are  "  colonial-bom," 
which  is  not  at  all  points  in  favour  of  the  former.  If  we 
are  to  take  personal  appearance  as  the  good  thing  most  in 
request  by  the  female  sex,  I  think  that  the  girls  born  in  the 
colony  have  the  pre-eminence.  As  a  rule  they  are  very 
pretty,  having  delicate  sweet  complexions  and  fine  forms. 
They  grow  quickly,  and  are  women  two  years  earlier  in  life 
than  are  our  girls, — and  consequently  are  old  women  some 
five  years  sooner.  They  are  bright  and  quick,  hardly  as  yet 
thoroughly  educated,  as  the  means  of  thorough  education 
for  women  do  not  grow  up  in  a  new  country  very  readily ; 
but  they  have  all  achieved  a  certain  amount  of  information 
which  they  have  at  their  fingers'  ends.  They  never  appear 
to  be  stupid  or  ignorant, — because  they  are  never  bashful 
or  diffident.  We  do  not  criticise  very  accurately  the  law  as 
laid  down  to  us  by  a  pretty  woman, — being  thankful  for  any 
law  from  bright  eyes  and  ruby  lips.  Sometimes  at  home 
we  can  get  no  law,  no  opinion,  no  rapid  outflow  of  sweet- 
sounding  words, — because  some  modest  sense  of  the  weak- 
ness of  feminine  youth  restrains  the  speech.  It  must  be 
admitted,  however,  that  even  at  home  this  failing  is  less 
general  than  it  used  to  be. 

Women,  all  the  world  over,  are  entitled  to  everything 
that  chivalry  can  give  them.  They  should  sit  while  men 
stand.  They  should  be  served  while  men  wait.  Men 
should  be  silent  while  they  speak.  They  should  be  praised, 
— even  without  desert.  They  should  be  courted, — even 
when  having  neither  wit  nor  beauty.  They  should  be 
worshipped, — even  without  love.  They  should  be  kept 
harmless  while  men  suffer.     They  should   be   kept  warm 


ioo  victoria. 

while  men  are  cold.  They  should  be  kept  safe  while  men 
are  in  danger.  They  should  be  enabled  to  live  while  men 
die  in  their  defence.  All  this  chivalry  should  do  for  women, 
and  should  do  as  a  matter  of  course.  But  there  is  a  reason 
for  this  deference.  One  human  being  does  not  render  all 
these  services  to  another, — who  cannot  be  more  than  his 
equal  before  God,- — without  a  cause.  A  man  will  serve  a 
woman,  will  suffer  for  her, — if  it  come  to  that  will  die  for 
her, — because  she  is  weaker  than  he  and  needs  protection. 
Let  her  show  herself  to  be  as  strong,  let  her  prove  by  her 
prowess  and  hardihood  that  the  old  idea  of  her  comparative 
weakness  has  been  an  error  from  the  beginning,  and  the 
very  idea  of  chivalry,  though  it  may  live  for  awhile  by  the 
strength  of  custom,  must  perish  and  die  out  of  men's  hearts. 
I  have  often  felt  this  in  listening  to  the  bold  self-assertion 
of  American  women, — not  without  a  doubt  whether  chivalry 
was  needed  for  the  protection  of  beings  so  excellent  in 
their  own  gifts,  so  superabundant  in  their  own  strength. 
And  the  same  thought  has  crept  over  me  when  I  have  been 
among  the  ladies  of  Victoria.  No  doubt  they  demand  all 
that  chivalry  can  give  them.  No  ladies  with  whom  I  am 
acquainted  are  more  determined  to  enforce  their  rights  in 
that  direction.  But  they  make  their  claim  with  arms  in 
their  hands, — at  the  very  point  of  the  bodkin.  Stand  aside 
that  I  may  pass  on.  Be  silent  that  I  may  speak.  Lay 
your  coat  down  upon  the  mud  and  perish  in  the 
cold,  lest  my  silken  slippers  be  soiled  in  the  mire.  Be 
wounded  that  I  may  be  whole.  Die,  that  I  may  live.  And 
for'  the  nonce  they  are  obeyed.  That  strength  of  custom 
still  prevails,  and  women  in  Victoria  enjoy  for  a  while  all 
that  weakness  gives,  and  all  that  strength  gives  also.  But 
this,  I  think,  can  only  be  for  a  day.  They  must  choose 
between  the  two,  not  only  in  Victoria  but  elsewhere.  As 
long  as  they  will  put  up  with  that  which  is  theirs  on  the 
score  of  feminine  weakness,  they  are  safe.  There  is  no 
tendency  on  the  part  of  men  to  lessen  their  privileges. 
Whether  they  can  make  good  their  position  in  the  other 
direction  may  be  doubtful.  I  feel  sure  that  they  cannot 
long   have  both,  and  I  think  it  unfair  that  they   should 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN.  101 

make  such  demand.  For  the  sake  of  those  who  are  to 
come  after  me, — both  men  and  women, — I  hope  that  there 
may  be  no  change  in  the  old-established  fashion. 

I  write  these  words  in  fear  and  trembling,  lest  the  ladies 
of  Victoria  should  condemn  my  book,  and  set  me  down  as 
one  who  had  accepted  and  betrayed  hospitality.  Let  them 
remember  all  that  I  have  conceded  to  them.  They  are 
lovely,  bright,  quick-witted,  and  successful.  If,  having  said 
so  much  on  their  behalf,  I  venture  to  add  a  few  words  of 
counsel,  they  should  remember  that  unqualified  praise  is 
always  egregious  flattery. 

In  speaking  of  men  I  can  venture  to  use  my  pen  with 
greater  courage,  and  to  say  what  I  have  to  say  without 
bating  my  breath.  To  their  censure  I  can  be  deaf,  and 
callous  to  their  displeasure.  The  Victorian  old  man  hardly 
as  yet  exists.  Among  those  who  are  near  the  top  of  the 
tree  it  is  rare  to  find  even  those  who  have  been  born  in  the 
other  colonies.  The  men  who  have  hitherto  prospered  best 
in  Australia  are  they  who  came  young  from  the  old  country, 
without  much  money,  with  great  energy,  and  with  a  strong 
conviction  that  fortune  was  to  be  made  by  industry, 
sobriety,  and  patience.  These  men  succeeded,  and  they  or 
their  descendants  are  now  the  landed  gentry  of  the  country. 
Some  are  dead,  and  their  places  are  filled  by  their  sons. 
Some  are  tottering  in  old  age,  and  their  work  is  carried  on 
by  their  sons.  But  there  are  enough  of  them  still  left  in 
hale  strength  to  give  a  tone  to  the  entire  colony.  They 
smack  of  England, — or  of  Scotland  or  Ireland,  as  the  case 
may  be, — and  are  very  different  in  their  manners  from  those 
younger  than  themselves,  who  have  been  born  in  Australia. 
There  are  of  course  many,  still  young,  who  have  come  out 
from  England, — so  many  that  they  suffice  to  give  a  tone  to 
the  whole  social  life  of  the  colony.  But  every  year  this 
becomes  less  so  than  it  was  the  year  before,  and  the  time 
will  soon  come  in  which  the  colonial  will  be  stronger  than 
the  home  flavour.  It  is  of  interest  to  inquire  whether  the 
race  will  deteriorate  or  become  stronger  by  the  change. 

Dividing  the  population  into  two  classes, — which,  in 
order  that  I  may  be  understood,  I  will  call  the  upper  and 


102  VICTORIA. 

the  lower  class, — I  speak  now  of  that  which  is  by  far  the 
less  important  as  being  the  less  numerous.  As  regards  the 
masses  of  the  men  who  earn  their  bread  by  their  manual 
labour  I  have  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  born  colonist  is 
superior  to  the  emigrant  colonist, — any  more  than  I  have 
that  the  emigrant  is  superior  to  his  weaker  brother  whom  he 
leaves  behind  him.  The  best  of  our  workmen  go  from  us, 
and  produce  a  race  superior  to  themselves.  The  labourer 
born  in  the  colonies  is  better  educated  than  the  man  who 
has  come  from  the  old  country,  and  is  very  much  more 
sober.  He  is  better  fed  than  the  labourer  at  home,  better 
housed,  better  clothed,  and  is  therefore  more  of  a  man.  I 
think  that  any  observer  seeing  the  artisans  in  an  Australian 
town,  the  miners  on  an  Australian  gold-field,  or  the  shearers 
in  an  Australian  wool-shed,  would  come  to  this  conclusion, 
■ — and  would  feel  that  no  workman  should  remain  at  home 
who  can  make  himself  master  of  a  passage  to  the  colonies. 
I  cannot  speak  with  the  same  confidence  of  those  who  are 
born  to  positions  which  we  regard  as  higher  than  those  of  a 
daily  workman.  The  young  Australian-born  "gentleman" 
has  certain  points  in  his  favour.  He  who  goes  out  from 
England  belonging  to  that  class  has  not  uncommonly  been 
sent  there  because  he  has  not  hitherto  done  very  well  at 
home.  1  have  said  that  the  best  of  our  labourers  emigrate  ; 
but  we  certainly  do  not  send  to  the  colonies  the  best  of  our 
youth  from  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  our  most  learned  young 
lawyers,  our  cleverest  engineers,  or  the  most  promising  sons 
of  our  merchants  and  tradespeople.  The  young  colonial 
scion  is  not  called  on  to  compete  with  the  elite  of  the  youth 
of  the  mother  country.  But  in  the  competition  to  which  he 
is  called,  he  hardly  as  yet  holds  his  own.  He  rarely  runs 
into  bad  vices.  He  does  not  drink,  or  gamble,  or  go 
utterly  to  the  dogs.  But  he  is  too  often  listless,  unenergetic, 
vain,  and  boastful.  Up  to  a  certain  age,  that  of  advanced 
boyhood,  he  is  generally  clever,  quick  at  learning  what  he 
does  learn,  and  very  often  superior  in  general  information 
to  a  boy  from  Harrow  or  from  Winchester.  He  has  more 
to  say  for  himself,  is  less  addicted  to  mere  boyish  amuse- 
ments, and  comes  out  as  a  man  at  an  earj?°r  age,     But  he 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN.  103 

has  that  fault  which  belongs  to  all  produce  of  field  and 
garden  which  grows  ripe  too  quickly.  When  Clara  in 
"  Philip  van  Artevelde "  boasted  that  she,  being  of  the 
softer  sex,  was  privileged  to  grow  ripe  on  the  sunny  side  of 
the  wall,  she  had  probably  not  yet  learned  that  the  fruit 
which  hangs  through  the  autumn  has  the  finer  flavour,  and 
can  be  kept  till  the  end  of  winter.  The  colonial  young 
man — a  young  man  while  he  still  should  be  a  boy — hardly 
keeps  the  promise  of  his  early  years,  and  seems  to  lack 
something  of  that  energy  which  grows  up  among  us  during 
the  protracted  years  of  our  juvenility. 

It  is  common  to  hear  this  discussed  in  the  colonies  them- 
selves,— where  the  old  swans  are  by  no  means  disposed  to 
look  upon  their  cygnets  as  goslings.  It  is  acknowledged, 
at  any  rate,  that  the  boy  grows  out  of  boyhood  earlier  than 
he  does  in  the  old  country.  It  is  common  to  attribute  the 
change  to  the  climate ;  and  there  certainly  is  apparent 
ground  for  doing  so,  as  we  know  that  puberty  is  attained 
earlier  in  warm  than  in  cold  countries.  I  do  not,  however, 
believe  that  the  climate  is  accountable  for  the  great  differ- 
ence which  exists, — especially  as  there  is  another  cause  in 
operation  which  must,  I  think,  have  produced  it  without 
other  cause.  Hitherto  the  education  of  youths  in  the  Aus- 
tralian colonies  has  been  quick,  perfunctory,  and  perhaps 
superficial.  That  it  should  have  been  of  this  kind,  is  so 
natural, — that  it  should  gradually  cease  to  be  open  to  such 
censure  as  the  modes  of  education  are  improved,  is  again  so 
natural,— that  we  maybe  justified  in  looking  for  the  decrease 
and  gradual  cessation  of  an  evil  so  caused,  whereas,  were  it 
attributable  to  the  climate,  any  remedy  for  it  would  be 
beyond  the  reach  of  our  energy  and  wisdom.  We  are  apt, 
in  the  old  country,  to  complain  bitterly  of  the  years  which 
are  devoted  to  the  pursuit  of  limited  knowledge  very  im- 
perfectly mastered.  At  eighteen  or  nineteen  our  boys, 
though  they  have  been  at  school  for  the  last  ten  years,  do 
not  speak  Latin,  do  not  read  Greek  fluently,  bungle  in  their 
French,  and  are  novices  at  mathematics.  But  during  the 
whole  time  they  have  been  learning  much  which  cannot  be 
put  into  any  examination  paper,  and  which  they  cannot 


J04  VICTORIA. 

reckon  up  in  the  list  of  their  acquirements.  They  may  be 
idle,  but  they  are  rarely  listless.  They  may  dislike  study, 
but  they  do  not  love  to  sit  still  and  whistle. 

Gradually  there  is  growing  up  in  the  colonies  a  desire 
for  protracted  education  on  the  part  of  fathers  who  can 
afford  to  bestow  such  advantage  on  their  sons.  There  are 
universities  at  Sydney  and  Melbourne,  which  indeed  are  as 
yet  only  in  their  infancy  in  regard  to  numbers,  but  which 
have  the  means  of  giving,  and  which  are  intended  to  give, 
the  protracted  education  of  which  I  speak.  Gradually  they 
will  grow  into  favour,  and  the  example  which  they  set  will 
be  followed  by  schools  throughout  the  colonies.  What  is 
chiefly  required  on  behalf  of  the  colonial-born  youth  is  that 
he  should  be  kept  a  little  longer  from  the  appurtenances  of 
manhood.  He  should  be  taught  to  cease  to  think  that  the 
prime  of  life  has  been  reached  at  nineteen. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

NEWSPAPERS,    BOOKS,  RAILWAYS,  ROADS,   TOWNS,  AND  WINES. 

I  dislike  the  use  of  superlatives,  especially  when  they  are 
applied  in  eulogy;  nevertheless,  I  feel  myself  bound  to  say 
that  I  doubt  whether  any  country  in  the  world  has  made 
quicker  strides  towards  material  comforts  and  well-being 
than  have  been  effected  by  Victoria.  She  is  not  forty  years 
old,  all  told, — going  back  even  to  the  date  at  which  Mr. 
Henty  landed  at  Portland, — and  she  has  already  at  her  com- 
mand most  of  the  enjoyments  of  civilised  life.  Of  her  great 
city,  Melbourne,  I  have  spoken, — and  of  her  gold-fields  and 
that  wonderful  gold-town,  Ballaarat ;  also  of  the  country  life 
of  her  country  gentlemen.  But  there  are  other  matters  in 
which  she  has  advanced  as  quickly :  and  I  must  say  a  word 
of  her  newspapers,  her  general  produce,  her  railways,  her 
roads  and  coaches,  her  country  towns,  and  her  native  wines. 
With  all  the  prejudice  of  a  genuine  Briton,  I  think  that 
no  country  has  ever  yet  produced  newspapers  equal  to  those 
of  England.  This  fact — if  it  be  a  fact — I  attribute  partly 
to  her  wealth,  partly  to  her  general  energy,  partly  to  her 
love  of  fair  play,  but  chiefly  to  her  determination  that  the 
press  shall  be  free.  In  France  many  of  the  writers  of  news- 
papers are  at  any  rate  equal  in  talent  to  their  brethren  among 
us,  and,  as  a  rule,  they  stand  higher  in  public  estimation. 
They  are  known  by  name,  and  they  have  a  wider  reputation. 
But  they  do  not  produce  the  same  sort  of  article.  The 
French  newspaper  is  more  confined  than  the  English,  and 
either  more  vapid  in  its  obedience  to  authority,  or  more 
violent  in  its  opposition.     There  is  no  catering  for  inibrma- 


io6  VICTORIA. 

tion  at  all  approaching  in  extensiveness  to  that  practised  by 
our  great  metropolitan  and  provincial  daily  papers ;  and  the 
means    expended   on  the   production  of  a  newspaper   are 
infinitely  less.     The  article  when  produced  is  readable  in 
regard  to  language  and  type,  and  has  opinions  of  its  own, 
perhaps  very  strongly  developed,  as  to  the  central  political 
subject  of  the  day  in  France  itself;  but  beyond  that  it  is 
generally  barren  of  information,  and  is  often  half  filled  with 
extraneous  matter,  which  might  be  more  conveniently  used 
in  the  form  of  a  volume.     But  if  the  French  newspapers 
dissatisfy  us,  what  are  we  to  say  of  those  of  the  United 
States?     With  a  fair  experience  of  their  journals,  with  a 
conviction  favourable   in   general  to   American  habits  and 
American  institutions,  with  strongest  feelings  of  social  friend- 
ship for  Americans  whom  I  know  and  of  political  friendship 
for  Americans  generally,  I  am  bound  to  declare  that  I  never 
had  a  newspaper  of  the  United  States  in  my  hand  without 
suffering  during  the  whole  time  that  I  was  reading  it.     The 
sensational  headings,  spread  over  an   amount  of  column 
often  greater  than  that  afterwards  devoted   to  the  subject 
itself,   disgust   and  irritate.     There  will  be  a  dozen  such 
headings  in  every  paper,  and  not  a  scrap  of  news  to  create 
sensation  afterwards.     The  language  is  bombastic,  vulgar, 
and  very  frequently  so  faulty  as  to  leave  on  the  mind  an 
impression  that  the  persons  employed  cannot  generally  be- 
long to  the  same  class  as  do  our  writers  for  the  daily  press. 
Their  type  is   bad.     Their  paper  is   bad, — and  when  you 
have  read  a  journal  through  with  the  greatest  diligence,  you 
declare,  as  you  throw  it  aside,  that  there  is  nothing  in  it 
whatever.     An  American  can  give  a  good  lecture, — much 
better  generally  than  any  Englishman, — can  make  a  good 
speech,  can  build  a  good  house,  can  cook  a  good  dinner, 
can  bake  good  bread,  can  tell  a  good  story,  can  write  a  good 
book,  can  do,  as  I  think,  anything  on  earth  requiring  in- 
tellect, energy,  industry,  and  construction, — with  this   one 
exception.      He  cannot, — at  any  rate  as   yet   he  has   not 
turned  out  a  good  newspaper. 

But  Victoria,  with  her  750,000  souls,  has  a  good  daily 
newspaper, — as  has  also  New  South  Wales,  with  her  500,000 


NEWSPAPERS  AND  BOOKS.  107 

souls.  Indeed,  in  this  respect  I  intend  to  give  no  priority 
to  the  one  over  the  other,  having  failed  to  form  an  opinion 
as  to  which  was  the  best.  But  I  think  that  the  Melbourne 
"Argus"  and  the  Sydney  "Morning  Herald"  are  the  best 
daily  papers  I  have  seen  out  of  England.  Sydney  is  nearly 
a  hundred  years  old,  and  is  perhaps  entitled  to  a  good  news- 
paper ;  but  it  is  remarkable  that  there  should  be  such  a  paper 
as  the  "  Argus  "  in  a  town  which  was  a  wilderness  forty  years 
since.  Melbourne  also  has  a  weekly  paper,  the  "  Austra- 
lasian," which  is  as  good  in  its  way  as  the  "  Argus."  Com- 
mon report  says  that  as  pecuniary  speculations  these  perio- 
dicals have  been  highly  successful ; — but  then  so  also  is  the 
New  York  "  Morning  Herald  "  ! 

General  literature  is  perhaps  the  product  which  comes 
last  from  the  energies  of  an  established  country.  Men  must 
eat  before  they  can  write,  and  all  think  of  eating  before  they 
think  of  writing.  Leisure,  which  is  compatible  only  with 
fixed  means  of  living,  is  necessary  for  the  production  of 
books.  Books  in  these  halcyon  days  do  no  doubt  provide 
bread  for  the  writers  of  them ;  but  the  man  who  with  empty 
pocket  attempts  to  begin  the  opening  of  his  oyster  by  the 
production  of  a  book,  will  too  often  have  to  endure  almost 
starvation  before  his  oyster  is  reached. 

The  production  of  books  must  follow  the  production  of 
other  things,  and  the  growth  of  literature  will  be  slow. 
Victoria,  however,  and  the  Australian  colonies  generally 
have  produced  many  books.  I  cannot  say  that  as  yet  their 
volumes  are  to  be  found  crowding  the  shelves  of  European 
libraries.  It  would  be  odd  indeed  if  it  were  so,  as  the 
country  has  not  yet  been  open  to  European  enterprise,  or 
even  to  European  footsteps,  for  a  full  century.  I  have  been 
surprised  to  find  not  only  how  many  books  have  been 
written  in  Australia,  and  sent  home  for  publication, — books 
generally  of  colonial  history,  colonial  experience,  and  colo- 
nial exploration, — which  have  made  their  mark,  but  also 
how  vast  a  number  of  small  volumes  have  issued  in  the 
colonies,  from  the  presses  of  Melbourne  and  Sydney,  which, 
alas  !  have  as  yet  done  but  little  either  for  the  pockets  or  the 
fame  of  the  writers.     Very  many  of  these  little  books — the 


io8  VICTORIA. 

majority  of  the  great  number  which  reached  my  hands- 
contained  verse,  verse  that  was  heroic,  verse  that  was 
elegiac,  verse  that  was  burlesque,  verse  that  was  amatory, 
and  very  often  verse  that  was  plaintive.  I  never  had  one  of 
these  unpretending  products  of  ambitious  souls  in  my  hand 
without  thinking  of  the  hopes  which  were  once  high,  so 
soon  to  be  dashed  to  the  ground, — of  the  grand  thoughts 
which  heralded  perhaps  but  a  poor  production,  of  the  labour 
given  without  return,  of  the  bitter  disappointment,  and,  alas  ! 
too,  of  the  money  spent  on  the  paper  and  printing  which 
probably  could  be  but  ill  spared.  Taking  each  individual 
author,  and  regarding  the  agony  which  disappointed  author- 
ship entails,  I  could  not  but  deplore  the  production  of  many 
a  little  book.  Now  and  again  the  author  would  tell  of  all 
his  trouble,  and  would  complain  of  the  hardness  of  the  world 
which  would  not  give  him  a  hearing.  But,  looking  at  the 
thing  as  a  whole,  I  know  it  to  be  good  for  the  colonies  that 
such  efforts  should  be  made.  Success  will  always  at  last 
attend  such  struggles ;  not,  I  fear,  success  for  each  individual 
straggler,  but  success  for  the  people  collectively,  whose  total 
of  energy  is  thus  exhibited.  The  desire,  and  the  ambition, 
and  the  purpose  are  there,  and  that  which  a  people  really 
desires  it  will  achieve.  I  cannot  thus  allude  to  the  literature 
of  the  colony  at  large  without  mentioning  the  name  of  Mr. 
Marcus  Clarke,  of  Melbourne,  whose  Australian  tales  are 
not  only  known  familiarly  by  all  colonists,  but  are  almost  as 
familiar  to  English  readers. 

Victoria  has  made  her  railways  after  a  system,— as  we  are 
sometimes  told  that  France  did,  as  England  certainly  did 
not  do,  nor,  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  the  other  Australian 
colonies.  In  the  first  place  she  has  a  line  perfected,  as  far 
as  her  territory  is  concerned,  in  the  direct  route  to  Sydney. 
The  Melbourne  and  Sydney  road  crosses  the  Murray  at 
Albury,  and  the  Victorian  railway  was,  when  I  was  there, 
nearly  finished  up  to  the  Victorian  side  of  the  river,  and  has 
since  been  completed.  I  do  not  think  that  New  South 
Wales  is  making  any  effort  to  fill  up  the  gap.  She  has  a 
line  as  far  as  Goulbourn, — 130  miles  from  Sydney  ;  but  the 
intervening  space  is  so  long, — about  300  miles, — that  the 


RAILWAYS.  109 

general  transit  from  one  town  to  the  other  is  still  by  water. 
The  distance,  and  the  poorness  of  the  country  to  be  traversed, 
will  afford  an  excuse  for  New  South  Wales,  the  validity  of 
which  it  is  impossible  altogether  to  deny ;  but  it  is,  I  think, 
notorious  that  Sydney  is  not  desirous  of  the  close  intercourse 
which  a  continuous  railway  would  create,  and  that  .she  would 
dread  the  effect  of  the  unrestricted  rivalry  which  it  would 
produce.  The  wool-growers  of  the  intervening  districts 
would  buy  in  Melbourne  and  would  sell  in  Melbourne,  if 
they  could  reach  Melbourne  as  easily  as  Sydney  ; — and  then 
there  would  be  renewed  difficulty  as  to  border  duties.  If  all 
the  southern  part  of  the  colony,  and  much  of  the  south- 
eastern part,  as  well  as  the  Riverina,  bought  their  groceries 
in  Melbourne,  how  would  New  South  Wales  collect  sufficient 
taxes  ? 

The  Victorian  line,  striking  the  Murray  at  Albury,  is  a 
branch  from  a  main  line,  previously  perfected,  striking  the 
same  river  at  Echuca,  lower  down.  By  this  main  route  the 
intercourse  between  the  Riverina  and  Melbourne  is  carried 
on,  and  from  this  point  the  people  of  the  Riverina  are 
anxious  that  a  line  should  be  made  into  the  heart  of  their 
country,  or  at  any  rate  to  Deniliquin,  which  they  call  their 
capital.  But  of  this  they  have  but  faint  hopes  while  the 
Riverina  remains  a  portion  of  New  South  Wales.  The  line 
from  Melbourne  to  Echuca  passes  directly  through  the  great 
Victorian  gold-fields  of  which  Bendigo,  or  Sandhurst  as  they 
now  call  it,  is  the  centre.  There  is  a  station  at  Castlemaine, 
and  another  at  Sandhurst.  The  line  to  Ballaarat,  the  capital 
of  the  other  great  Victorian  gold-field, — I  am  afraid  to  call 
it  either  the  first  or  the  second  in  regard  to  its  gold,  but  in 
regard  to  its  qualities  as  a  town  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
it  is  the  first, — starts  from  the  same  station  at  Melbourne, 
but  branches  off  a  mile  or  two  from  the  town.  This  line 
takes  an  indirect  course,  running  down  the  north-western 
side  of  Port  Phillip  Bay  to  Geelong,  and  then  turning  north 
to  Ballaarat.  It  is  intended  to  continue  this  line  into  the 
rich  farming  districts  of  the  west,  towards  Hexham,  Hamil- 
ton, and  Coleraine,  but  when  I  was  in  the  colony  there  was 
a  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  route  which  should  be  taken, 


no  Victoria. 

There  is  apt  to  be  a  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  route  to 
be  taken  by  railways,  when  the  money  required  for  making 
them  is  to  come  from  the  colony  at  large. 

Victoria,  as  she  makes  her  railways,  borrows  the  money 
on  the  credit  of  the  entire  colony,  and  pays  the  interest  out 
of  the  general  revenue,  applying  the  earnings  of  the  railways 
to  the  revenue  also.  In  1869  the  total  interest  on  the 
amount  up  to  that  date  borrowed  for  the  construction  of 
railways,  is  stated  to  have  been  .£505,676,  and  the  expenses 
of  working  the  railways  to  have  been  £250,657,  making  a 
total  of  £756, 333  expended, — whereas  the  proceeds  earned 
amounted  to  £544,414,  leaving  a  deficit  of  £211,919  to  be 
paid  out  of  the  general  taxes  of  the  country.  I  regard  the 
result  as  highly  satisfactory  to  the  colony.  The  railways  are 
still  in  course  of  construction,  and  in  that  condition  must  be 
less  remunerative  than  they  will  be  when  periected.  I 
believe  that  comparatively  a  few  years  will  make  the  Vic- 
torian railways  self-supporting,  and  that  an  excellent  discre- 
tion has  been  exercised  in  the  manner  in  which  the  money 
has  been  borrowed  and  expended.  But  it  may  easily  be 
imagined  that  money  borrowed  and  expended  on  this  system 
should  give  rise  to  conflicting  claims.  AVhy  should  one 
district  be  favoured  above  another,  when  all  pay  ?  It  will  of 
course  be  urged  that  this  district  will  support  a  railway, 
while  that  other  cannot  do  so.  But  such  an  argument  will 
find  no  favour  with  the  rejected  district,  which  may  perhaps 
be  able  to  assert  itself  loudly  by  political  support  or  political 
opposition. 

Another  short  branch  striking  off  from  the  Geelong  line 
down  to  Melbourne,  goes  to  'Williamstown,  which  is  the  port 
of  the  capital,  and  completes  the  set  of  government  railways 
belonging  to  the  colony.  There  is  a  suburban  line,  belonging 
to  a  private  company,  which  runs  to  the  south  and  south-east, 
and  enables  the  citizens  of  Melbourne  of  all  degrees  to  live  out 
of  the  city.  It  was  a  matter  of  wonder  to  me  that  a  town 
of  such  a  population  as  Melbourne  should  afford  so  very 
large  a  local  traffic ;  —  but  I  soon  found  how  large  a 
proportion  of  the  population  lived  in  the  suburbs  which  it 
accommodated. 


COACH  ROADS  AND  COACHES.  lit 

There  are  still  large  districts  of  Victoria  not  touched  by 
railway,  especially  the  entire  eastern  part  of  the  colony, 
which  is  called  Gippsland,  and  the  Wimmera  district  which 
lies  to  the  north-west.  The  Gippslanders  talk  eagerly  of  a 
railway,  but  as  their  pleasant  little  capital  of  Sale  holds  only 
2,000  people,  and  is  the  centre  of  a  thinly  populated  country, 
I  cannot  think  that  their  hopes  will  be  soon  gratified.  The 
Wimmera  district  I  did  not  visit.  It  is  more  remote  and 
more  sparsely  populated  even  than  Gippsland,  but  had  I 
gone  there,  I  should  probably  have  heard  of  the  great  pro- 
jected Wimmera  line. 

I  cannot  speak  as  highly  of  the  coach  roads  as  of  the 
railways  of  Victoria.  One  effect  of  railways  in  a  new  country 
is  to  anticipate  and  supersede  the  creation  of  ordinary  roads. 
A  perfectly  new  country,  hitherto  known  only  to  a  few  shep- 
herds, is  opened  up  by  a  railway, — which  is  not  carried 
hither  and  thither  for  the  service  of  towns  and  villages,  but 
creates  them  as  it  goes  along.  Then,  the  one  great  need  of 
a  central  road  having  been  achieved,  neither  the  government 
nor  the  inhabitants  are  for  a  time  willing  to  go  to  the 
expense  of  macadamization.  The  badness  of  the  roads  is, 
however,  remarkable  throughout  Australia, — and  it  is  equally 
remarkable  that  though  the  roads  are  very  bad,  and  in  some 
places  cannot  be  said  to  exist,  nevertheless  coaches  run  and 
goods  are  carried  about  the  country.  A  Victorian  coach, 
with  six  or  perhaps  seven  or  eight  horses,  in  the  darkness  of 
the  night,  making  its  way  through  a  thickly  timbered  forest  at 
the  rate  of  nine  miles  an  hour,  with  the  horses  frequently  up 
to  their  bellies  in  mud,  with  the  wheels  running  in  and  out 
of  holes  four  or  five  feet  deep,  is  a  phenomenon  which  I 
should  like  to  have  shown  to  some  of  those  very  neat  mail- 
coach  drivers  whom  I  used  to  know  at  home  in  the  old 
days.  I  am  sure  that  no  description  would  make  any  one 
of  them  believe  that  such  feats  of  driving  were  possible.  I 
feel  that  nothing  short  of  seeing  it  would  have  made  me 
believe  it.  The  coaches,  which  are  very  heavy,  and  carry 
nine  passengers  inside,  are  built  on  an  American  system, 
and  hang  on  immense  leathern  springs.  The  passengers 
inside  are  shaken  ruthlessly,  and  are  horribly  soiled  by  mud 


U2  VICTORIA. 

and  dirt.  Two  sit  upon  the  box  outside,  and  undergo  lesser 
evils.  By  the  courtesy  shown  to  strangers  in  the  colonies  I 
always  got  the  box,  and  found  myself  fairly  comfortable  as 
soon  as  I  overcame  the  idea  that  I  must  infallibly  be  dashed 
against  the  next  gum-tree.  I  made  many  such  journeys, 
and  never  suffered  any  serious  misfortune.  I  feel  my- 
self bound,  however,  to  say  that  Victoria  has  not  advanced 
in  road-making  as  she  has  in  other  matters. 

There  are  three  good  towns  in  Victoria,  towns  which 
would  receive  such  praise  on  the  score  of  architecture  and 
general  arrangements  in  any  country,  whether  new  or  old. 
These  are  Melbourne,  Ballaarat,  and  Geelong.  In  some 
respects,  a  growing  town  with  a  look  of  growing  prosperity 
about  it,  but  with  still  something  of  the  roughness  of  the  bush 
in  its  unfinished  streets,  is  more  interesting  than  a  full-fledged 
city.  There  are  many  such  in  Victoria,  in  which  the 
churches,  the  banks,  the  schools,  and  the  hotels  seem  to 
bear  a  very  undue  proportion  to  the  shops  and  private  resi- 
dences. And  in  every  such  a  town  that  has  had  any  suc- 
cess there  is  a  newspaper,- — or  perhaps  two.  For  a  mile  or 
two  on  each  side  of  such  a  town  there  will  be  made  roads, 
and  then,  by  gradual  but  quick  decrease  of  road-making 
enterprise,  the  bush  track  will  be  reached.  The  population 
is  very  small,  3,000  being  enough  to  justify  corporate  pride 
and  a  high  position  among  boroughs,  and  even  500  sufficing 
for  a  mayor.  In  all  these  towns  rough  plenty  prevails.  In 
many  of  them  I  found  that  the  rates  of  an  artisan's  wages 
were  quite  as  high  as  in  Melbourne,  and  in  some  higher. 
Large  amounts  of  capital  are  occasionally  expended  on  the 
erection  of  a  store,  or  a  huge  inn, — which  not  unfrequently 
is  lost  to  the  speculator.  But  in  a  new  country  such  losses 
do  not  frighten  other  speculators  ; — do  not  even  frighten 
him  who  for  the  nonce  has  been  ruined.  The  man  who  has 
lost  his  money  "  clears  out,"  and  some  other  speculator 
comes  in.  I  visited  various  such  towns  as  these,  Beech- 
worth,  Hamilton,  Sale.  Woods  Point,  Wangaratta,  and  others, 
and  was  invariably  struck  by  their  uncouth  prosperity.  You 
see  them  expanding  and  growing,  as  you  do  the  young 
colonial  girl  of  ten  years  old,  who  buds  forth  so  quickly  that 


AUSTRALIAN  WINE.  1I3 

the  increase  of  her  physical  power  becomes  almost  visible  to 
you.  Too  often  these  towns  are  altogether  ugly  to  the  eye. 
How  should  an  unfinished  congregation  of  houses  be  other- 
wise than  ugly  when  it  is  constructed  with  rectangular  streets 
on  a  level  plain?  The  pretentious  dimensions  of  some  two 
or  three  buildings, — of  a  church,  a  bank,  or  an  inn, — adds 
to  the  ugliness  of  the  houses  generally,  and  gives  to  the 
stranger  a  feeling  of  mixed  melancholy  and  of  thankfulness 
that  his  lot  has  not  been  cast  in  so  unsightly  a  place.  When, 
however,  he  has  learned  on  inquiry  that  every  man  there 
earns  41-.,  $?.,  or  6s.  a  day,  and  that  meat  is  2d.  a  pound, 
and  when  he  remembers  that  in  his  own  pretty  villages  at 
home  men  are  earning  2s.  a  day  and  that  meat  is  is.  a 
pound,  the  melancholy  by  which  he  is  pervaded  takes  another 
direction. 

From  this  general  charge  of  ugliness  I  must  except  the 
pretty  town  of  Beechworth,  which  is  the  capital  of  a  large 
district,  and  which  is  graced  by  a  lunatic  asylum.  But  its 
charm  does  not  depend  on  the  greatness  of  its  corporate 
condition,  or  even  on  its  asylum.  It  is  backed  by  the  Aus- 
tralian Alps,  and  has  had  bestowed  upon  it  the  gift  of  fine 
scenery.  I  doubt  whether  there  be  a  man  alive  who  would 
prefer  2s.  a  day  and  grand  mountains,  to  5J.  and  a  flat 
countiy ; — but  when  the  matter  does  not  come  home  so 
closely  to  the  spectators,  a  pretty  landscape  has  a  great 
effect. 

Australia  makes  a  great  deal  of  wine, — so  much  and  so 
cheaply  that  the  traveller  is  surprised  how  very  little  of  it 
is  used  by  the  labouring  classes.  Among  them  some  do  not 
drink  at  all,  some  few  drink  daily, — and  many  never  drink 
when  at  work,  but  indulge  in  horrible  orgies  during  the  few 
weeks,  or  perhaps  days,  of  idleness  which  they  allow  them- 
selves. But  the  liquor  which  they  swallow  is  almost  always 
spirits — and  always  spirits  of  the  most  abominable  kind. 
They  pay  sixpence  a  glass  for  their  poison,  which  is  served 
to  them  in  a  cheating  false-bottomed  tumbler  so  contrived 
as  to  look  half-full  when  it  contains  but  little.  The  drain  is 
swallowed  without  water,  and  the  dose  is  repeated  till  the 
man  be  drunk.     The  falseness  of  the  glass  seems  to  excuse 

1 


ii4  VICTORIA. 

itself,  as  the  less  the  man  has  the  better  for  him ; — but  the 
fraud  serves  no  one  but  the  publican,  for  though  the  "  nob- 
bier" be  small, — a  dram  in  Australia  is  always  a  nobbier,— 
there  is  no  limit  to  the  number  of  nobblers.  The  concoc- 
tion which  is  prepared  for  these  poor  fellows  is,  I  think, 
even  worse  than  that  produced  by  the  London  publican. 
At  home,  however,  beer  is  the  wine  of  the  country  and  is  the 
popular  beverage  at  any  rate  with  the  workmen  of  this  coun- 
try. In  all  the  Australian  colonies,  except  Tasmania,  wine 
is  made  plentifully, — and  if  it  were  the  popular  drink  of  the 
country,  would  be  made  so  plentifully  that  it  could  suffice 
for  the  purpose.  All  fruits  thrive  there,  but  none  with  such 
fecundity  as  the  grape.  One  Victorian  wine-grower,  who 
had  gone  into  the  business  on  a  great  scale,  told  me  that  it 
he  could  get  2s.  a  gallon  for  all  that  he  made,  the  business 
would  pay  him  well.  The  wine  of  which  he  spoke  was  cer- 
tainly superior  both  in  flavour  and  body  to  the  ordinary  wine 
drunk  by  Parisians.  It  is  wholesome  and  nutritious,  and  is 
the  pure  juice  of  the  grape. 

Accustomed  to  French  and  Spanish  wines, — or  perhaps  to 
wines  passed  off  upon  me  as  such, — I  did  not  like  the  Aus- 
tralian "  fine"  wines.  The  best  that  I  drank  was  in  South 
Australia,  but  I  did  not  much  relish  them.  I  thought  them 
to  be  heady,  having  a  taste  of  earth,  and  an  after-flavour 
which  was  disagreeable.  This  may  have  been  prejudice  on 
my  part.  It  may  be  that  the  requisite  skill  for  wine-making 
has  not  yet  been  attained  in  the  colonies.  Undoubtedly 
age  is  still  wanting  to  the  wines,  which  are  consumed  too 
quickly  after  the  vinting.  It  may  possibly  be  the  case  that 
though  Australia  can  grow  an  unlimited  quantity  of  wine, 
she  cannot  produce  wines  capable  of  rivalling  those  of 
Europe.  On  these  points  I  do  not  pretend  to  have  an 
opinion.  But  I  regard  a  wholesome  drink  for  the  country 
as  being  of  more  importance  than  fine  wines,  even  though 
they  should  equal  the  produce  of  the  vineyards  of  the  South 
of  Spain  or  the  South  of  France.  France  and  Italy  are  tem- 
perate because  they  produce  a  wine  suitable  to  their  climate. 
Australia,  widr  a  similar  climate,  produces  wine  with  equal 
ease,  and  certainly, — I  speak  in  reference  to  the  common 


AUSTRALIAN  WINE.  tifj 

wine, — as  good  a  quality.  There  is  now  on  sale  in  Mel- 
bourne, at  the  price  of,  I  think,  threepence  a  glass, — the 
glass  containing  about  half  a  pint, — -the  best  vin-ordinaire 
that  I  ever  drank.  It  is  a  white  wine,  made  at  Yering,  a 
vineyard  on  the  Upper  Yarra,  and  is  both  wholesome  and 
nutritive.  Nevertheless,  the  workmen  of  Melbourne,  when 
they  drink,  prefer  to  swallow  the  most  horrible  poison  which 
the  skill  of  man  ever  concocted. 


CHAPTER  X. 

LEGISLATION,   GOVERNMENT,   AND   COMMERCE. 

The  scheme  of  legislation  and  government  is  the  same  in 
Victoria  as  in  the  other  colonies,  but  it  has  been  carried  out 
after  a  more  entirely  democratic  fashion,  and  with  a  more 
settled  intention  of  throwing  the  political  power  of  the 
colony  into  the  hands  of  the  people.  There  are,  of  course, 
the  three  estates, — King,  Lords,  and  Commons,  represented 
here  by  the  Governor,  with  his  appointment  from  Downing 
Street,  the  Legislative  Council,  and  the  Legislative  Assem- 
bly. The  Governor  has,  of  course,  the  royal  veto ;  and  he 
has  also,  which  is  much  more  commonly  used,  the  power  of 
reserving  bills  which  have  passed  the  two  colonial  houses  for 
the  approval  or  disapproval  of  the  home  government.  The 
Upper  House,  or  Legislative  Council,  is  elective,  as  it  is 
also  in  South  Australia.  In  Queensland  and  New  South 
Wales  it  is  nominated.  The  nominations  in  the  latter 
colonies  are,  indeed,  practically  made  by  the  premier  for 
the  time,  who  is  the  minister  of  the  people ;  but  a  House  is 
thus  constituted  much  less  democratic  and  at  the  same  time 
more  influential  than  when  elected  by  popular  constituencies. 
Political  power  necessarily  belongs  chiefly  to  the  Lower 
House, — to  that  which  is  nearest  to  the  community  at  large; 
but  it  falls  altogether  away  from  an  elective  Upper  House, 
as  the  people  devote  all  their  energies  and  all  their  thoughts 
to  the  members  whom  they  are  to  elect  for  the  popular 
chamber. 

The  Legislative  Council   in   Victoria  is  returned  by  six 
provinces  into  which  the  colony  is  divided, — each  province 


LEGISLATION. 


117 


returning  five  members.  Of  these  five  one  goes  out  every 
second  year,  so  that  each  member  of  the  Council  is  returned 
for  ten  years.  A  property  qualification  is  required  both  for 
the  candidate  and  for  the  electors.  The  former  must  own 
property  to  the  value  of  ^2,500,  and  the  latter  must  pay  a 
rental  of  ^50,  or  rates  on  property  to  that  amount.  The 
interest  taken  by  Victorians  in  the  elections  of  the  Council 
is  not  great.  At  those  which  were  made  in  1870  there  was 
no  contest  in  four  out  of  the  six  provinces,  and  in  the  other 
two  less  than  50  per  cent,  of  the  electors  polled.  The 
Upper  House  seldom  initiates  laws,  and  is  looked  upon 
rather  for  protection  than  action.  This  is  certainly  the  case 
in  the  other  colonies  also,  but  in  none  of  them  to  the  same 
extent  as  in  Victoria.  In  Tasmania  and  South  Australia  I 
found  the  prime  minister  in  the  Upper  House.  In  Queens- 
land and  New  South  Wales  I  found  one  of  the  cabinet 
there ;  and,  in  the  latter,  many  of  the  leading  men  of  the 
colony  held  seats  in  the  Council.  In  Victoria  the  cabinet 
is  no  doubt  represented  in  the  Council ;  but  the  representa- 
tion is  generally  feeble,  and  the  gentlemen  selected  have 
of  late  held  no  office  and,  I  believe,  received  no  emolument. 
The  Lower  House  is  elected  for  three  years,  by  manhood 
suffrage,  and  no  property  qualification  is  required  either  for 
the  candidates  or  for  the  electors.  The  votes  for  both 
Houses  are  of  course  taken  by  ballot.  In  regard  to  the 
ballot  in  Victoria,  it  is  as  well  to  point  out  that  its  value 
consists  not  in  any  security  afforded  by  secrecy, — as  to 
which  the  voters  are  happily  quite  indifferent ; — but  in  the 
tranquillity  at  elections  which  it  ensures.  In  Victoria,  and  in 
Victoria  alone  among  the  Australian  colonies,  members  of 
parliament  are  paid.  They  receive  ,£300  a  year  for  their  ser- 
vices, and  are  entitled  to  travel  free  by  railways  and  mail- 
coaches.  The  system  of  payment  has  not,  however,  as  yet  been 
permanently  adopted.  Unless  renewed  by  another  bill,  it  will 
lapse  after  the  first  year  of  the  parliament  next  to  be  elected, 
and  would  thus  cease  in  1875.  Whether  it  will  be  renewed 
not  a  few  in  the  colony  profess  to  doubt ;  but  I  observe 
that  the  doubters  are  those  who  think  such  payment  to  be 
objectionable.     I  have  but  little  faith  myself  in  the  modcra- 


n8  VICTORIA. 

tion  of  a  dog  that  has  once  tasted  blood,  and  do  not  there- 
fore believe  that  the  members  of  the  next  Victoria  parlia- 
ment will  be  endowed  by  so  strong  a  spirit  of  patriotic 
martyrdom  as  to  abandon  by  their  own  act  the  salaries 
which  they  will  be  then  enjoying.  I  will  not  trouble  my 
reader  here  by  attempting  to  prove  that  this  making  a  pro- 
fession of  parliament,  this  power  of  living  poorly  on  the 
small  means  which  parliament  will  produce,  must  be  in- 
jurious to  the  legislature  of  the  country,  as  the  system  has 
but  few  advocates  at  home.  It  has  now  been  practised  for 
many  years  in  the  United  States,  and  certainly  has  not 
served  there  to  raise  the  House  of  Representatives.  It  has 
not  been  long  tried  in  Victoria,  but  it  certainly  has  not  as 
yet  had  that  tendency. 

The  mode  of  carrying  on  the  government  in  Victoria  sub- 
ject to  the  approval  of  parliament  is  almost  identical  with 
that  which  is  familiar  to  us  at  home.  The  governor  nomi- 
nally appoints  his  minister, — selecting  one  chief  who  selects 
his  own  cabinet;  but  the  choice  is  in  fact  made  by  the 
Lower  House,  whose  chosen  leader  remains  in  power  as 
long  as  he  is  the  chosen  one,  and  gives  way  by  resignation 
as  soon  as  some  other  favourite  has  usurped  the  votes  of  the 
majority.  The  mode  of  changing  ministers  is  nearly  the 
same  as  with  us  at  home, — but  the  power  of  the  minister  is 
in  one  respect  confined  within  narrower  limits.  The  outgoing 
minister  in  his  last  and  generally  futile  attempt  to  regain 
that  which  he  has  lost,  recommends  the  Crown  to  dissolve 
Parliament,  so  that  the  country  at  large  may  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  reversing  the  last  decision  of  its  representatives. 
We  at  home  now  think  that  the  Crown  is  boundto  follow 
the  advice  so  tendered,  thereby  obeying  the  great  constitu- 
tional rule  that  the  sovereign  can  do  no  political  act  except 
by  the  advice  of  his  ministers.  The  practice  is  not  as  yet 
recognised, — is  at  any  rate  not  as  yet  established  as  consti- 
tutional usage, — in  the  colonies.  During  my  sojourn  in 
Australia  I  saw  a  ministry  outvoted  in  New  South  Wales 
and  another  in  Victoria.  In  each  case  the  outgoing  minister 
appealed  to  the  governor  for  a  dissolution.  In  New  South 
Wales  the  governor  acceded, — and   was   then   blamed   by 


GOVERNMENT.  119 

every  one  for  doing  so.  In  Victoria  the  governor  refused, — 
giving  his  reasons  in  a  paper  which  was  read  to  the  House, 
and  every  one  praised  him  for  refusing.  In  the  one  case  as 
in  the  other  there  was  a  general  feeling  that  nothing  could 
be  gained  by  a  dissolution, — as  in  New  South  Wales  nothing 
was  gained  by  the  outgoing  minister.  Nevertheless  it  will 
come  to  be  accepted  in  the  colonies  before  long  as  good 
constitutional  doctrine  that  in  this  matter,  as  in  all  other 
matters  of  political  practice,  the  governor  should  be  guided 
by  his  responsible  advisers. 

A  member  of  a  colonial  cabinet  is  not  so  great  a  man  as 
a  cabinet  minister  at  home.  He  is  not  even  relatively  so 
great  a  man,  and  does  not  hold  a  position  among  his  fellow 
citizens  proportionate  to  that  enjoyed  by  our  own  statesmen 
at  home  ;  but  he  holds  very  much  more  than  proportionate 
powers,  and  exercises  very  much  more  than  proportionate 
patronage.  Everything  is  centralized.  The  roads,  the 
bridges,  and  the  railways  of  the  colony  are  constructed  by 
government.  Asylums  and  gaols  are  erected  and  managed 
by  the  government.  The  lands  of  the  colony,  not  as  yet 
alienated,  are  the  property  of  the  government  at  large,  and 
are  sold  or  leased  by  the  government.  The  local  magis- 
trates are  appointed  by  the  government.  Municipal  institu- 
tions are  growing,  and  as  they  grow  this  centralization  of 
power  will  be  lessened ;  but,  in  the  meantime,  the  ministers 
of  the  day,  who  may  be  men  but  very  little  qualified  to  bear 
the  weight  of  such  responsibility,  are  called  upon  to  arrange 
details  affecting  the  interests  of  individuals  which  it  would 
be  impossible  for  any  minister,  however  great,  to  adjust  with 
true  impartiality.  Things  are,  in  truth,  adjusted  with  an 
eye  to  electioneering  majorities.  When  a  member  for  some 
remote  district  becomes  a  cabinet  minister,  that  district  at 
once  expects  all  the  good  things  which  patronage  can  give. 
Should  a  Roman  Catholic  be  prime  minister  the  Roman 
Catholics  throughout  the  colony  expect  government  places ; 
— and  every  porter  at  a  railway  holds  a  government  place. 
But  the  minister  for  lands  is  he  upon  whom  the  greatest 
pressure  is  brought  to  bear.  A  supporter  of  the  ministry 
considers  himself  entitled  to  buy  good  land  cheap, — and 


120  VICTORIA. 

considers  also  that  every  impediment  should  be  thrown  in 
the  way  of  those  who  oppose  the  ministry  but  still  wish  to 
buy  land.  Tenders  of  contracts  for  the  conveyance  of  mails 
are  sent  out  in  the  name  of  the  postmaster-general,  who 
happened  also  to  be  prime  minister  when  I  was  in  Mel- 
bourne. Tenders  for  government  clothing  are  sent  out  in 
the  name  of  the  treasurer.  The  same  practice  prevails 
throughout  the  cabinet,  and  produces  a  feeling  that  staunch 
support  of  the  government  may  be  quite  as  influential  in 
procuring  the  desired  job  as  favourable  terms.  The  injus- 
tice done  to  individuals  is  not  in  itself  so  great  an  evil  as 
the  growing  conviction  throughout  the  colony  that  all  this 
is  a  matter  of  course,  and  that  it  forms  a  recognised  part  of 
that  concrete  institution  which  we  welcome  under  the  name 
of  Constitutional  Government. 

I  do  not  wish  to  say  hard  things  of  Victorian  ministers  of 
state ; — nor  do  I  condemn  any  individuals  when  I  assert 
that  the*  whole  colony  is  permeated  by  a  conviction  that  the 
power  of  government  is  used  for  jobbing.  While  matters 
are  centralized  as  they  are  now, — while  members  of  the 
cabinet  are  compelled  to  exercise  their  own  judgment  in  the 
appointment  of  gaolers,  railway  porters,  and  letter-carriers 
over  the  entire  colony, — while  tenders  are  sent  in,  not  to 
the  politically  powerless  head  of  a  department,  but  to  the 
political  minister  himself  by  name, — it  would  require  more 
than  human  energy  and  impartiality  to  avoid  jobbery  In 
the  present  circumstances  of  the  colonial  executive  depart- 
ments is  it  not  probable  that  the  energies  of  ministers  will 
be  prompted  to  take  quite  the  other  direction  ?  Indeed  no 
man  could  sit  for  a  month  on  the  Victorian  ministerial  bench 
who  determined  to  manage  his  office  without  any  reference 
to  his  parliamentary  position.  It  is  taken  as  a  matter  of 
course  that  he  will  use  his  patronage  for  the  promotion  of 
his  party. 

In  this  matter  I  do  not  know  that  even  yet  we  have  our 
hands  at  home  quite  clean.  I  think  I  do  know  that  they 
have  not  at  any  rate  been  long  clean.  But  the  sin  has  been 
all  but  abolished  among  us,  chiefly  by  the  intense  desire  of 
statesmen  to  be  quit  of  a  business  that  had  been  thrown 


GOVERNMENT.  12 1 

upon  them  gradually  by  the  increasing  propensity  to  raise 
bulwarks  for  political  powers,  but  which  they  at  last  found 
to  be  not  only  onerous  and  disreputable,  but  also  unservice- 
able. In  the  United  States  the  system  is  still  rampant, — 
though  there  it  has  been  somewhat  lessened  by  the  general 
feeling  which  prevails  as  to  its  iniquity.  In  all  the  Austral- 
asian colonies  it  exists.  In  each  of  them  ministers  are 
driven  to  seek  parliamentary  support  by  manipulating 
patronage.  Fortunes  already  made  are  not  common  among 
legislators  in  a  new  country,— so  that  it  may  often  happen 
that  the  brothers,  sons,  and  kinsmen  of  a  minister  may 
themselves  be  in  need  of  places.  A  ministry  that  was 
beaten  in  the  parliament  of  Victoria  in  June,  1872,  was 
turned  out  solely  on  the  ground  that  it  had  misused  its 
patronage.  There  may,  perhaps,  be  room  to  hope  that 
such  an  example  may  be  of  service,  and  that  it  may  tend  to 
teach  the  people  generally  that  parliamentary  government 
does  not  mean  the  partial  advancement  of  a  certain  class 
who  may  support  this  or  that  set  of  politicians.  There  can 
be  but  little  doubt  that  a  decentralization  of  affairs  and  an 
increase  in  the  power  and  responsibility  of  local  manage- 
ment would  greatly  tend  to  save  colonists  themselves  from 
falling  into  a  miserably  false  view  of  politics,  which  at 
present  it  is  almost  impossible  that  they  should  avoid. 

The  revenue  of  the  colony  for  the  year  ending  30th  June, 
1872,  was  ^3,72 1,64s.  This  included  about  three-quarters 
of  a  million  raised  by  the  sale  of  public  lands  and  by 
pastoral  leases.  It  included  also  the  amount  collected  on 
the  railways,  for  water-supply  to  the  city  of  Melbourne,  for 
telegraphs,  pilot-dues,  and  postage,  and  various  other  items, 
all  of  which  are  brought  to  the  account  of  the  public  purse, 
though  they  have  no  connection  with  the  taxation  of  the 
country  The  absolute  burden  on  the  country,  raised  in 
the  shape  of  taxes,  does  not  exceed  a  million  and  a  half, 
and  is  therefore  not  above  £2  a  head  on  the  population. 
The  public  debt  amounts  to  twelve  millions, — but  it  has 
been  borrowed  exclusively  for  the  construction  of  public 
works,  and  almost  exclusively  for  the  construction  of  rail- 
ways.    It  must  be  admitted  that  the  burden  of  taxation  on 


122  VICTORIA. 

the  public  is  light  in  the  colony,  and  is  so  although  the 
government  has  undertaken  enterprises  on  the  public 
behalf,  which  no  private  companies  could  have  achieved. 

The  two  great  staple  articles  of  commerce  in  Victoria  are 
wool  and  gold.  Of  the  gold-fields  of  the  colony  I  have  said 
enough,  but  it  may  be  well  to  add  a  comparative  statement 
of  the  value  of  those  two  sources  of  wealth.  In  1870  the 
gold  exported  from  the  colony  was  sold  for  ^6,119,782, 
and  the  wool  for  ^3,205,106.  Gold  maintains  its  nominal 
value,  whereas  wool  vacillates  so  much  that  within  twelve 
months  the  price  may  be  nearly  doubled  or  halved.  Be- 
tween March,  1871,  and  March,  1872,  the  price  of  wool  did 
rise  fully  80  per  cent.  But  since  1852,  the  first  year  of 
extended  gold  production  in  Victoria,  the  Victorian  wool 
has  never  come  near  to  the  Victorian  gold,  and  during  the 
whole  of  that  period  has  amounted  to  little  more  than  a 
quarter  of  it.  Nevertheless  the  established  wealth  of  the 
wealthy  man  in  Victoria  has  been  nude  by  pastoral  pursuits 
rather  than  by  mining.  The  aristocracy  is  essentially  an 
aristocracy  of  squatters, — that  is  of  gentlemen  who  have 
made  or  are  making  their  money  by  grazing  cattle  and 
shearing  sheep.  The  gold  may  cost  as  much  to  raise  it  as 
it  is  worth, — may,  indeed,  and  often  does,  cost  much  more. 
But  the  sheep  increase  in  numbers  and  are  shorn  with  com- 
paratively little  outlay.  Here,  as  in  most  other  countries, 
land  is  more  coveted,  and  seems  to  convey  a  higher  influ- 
ence, than  any  other  property.  The  squatter,  even  though 
he  do  not  own  his  land,  but  runs  his  sheep  on  waste  lands, 
as  a  crown  tenant  with  a  short  lease,  and  no  certainty  of 
tenure  even  as  to  that,  is  still  regarded  as  a  territorial  mag- 
nate. Though  the  gold  produced  in  the  colony  be  annually 
worth  double  the  wool,  and  though  the  raids  of  the  free- 
selecter  on  the  squatter  have  been  more  cruel  in  Victoria 
than  even  in  the  other  colonies,  still  the  production  of  wool 
is  the  most  popular  and  certainly  at  the  present  moment  the 
most  remunerative  occupation  in  Victoria. 

In  1870  the  total  imports  into  the  colony  amounted  to 
^12,455,758,  and  the  exports  to  ^12,470,014,  thus  very 
nearly  balancing  themselves.      Each   amount   is   about  a 


COMMERCE.  123 

million  lower  than  it  was  ten  years  before, — in  1861.  But 
I  doubt  whether  this  can  be  taken  as  showing  any  decrease 
in  the  substantial  prosperity  of  the  colony.  The  decrease 
in  the  exports  has  been  chiefly  on  gold  and  live-stock,  with 
a  wholesome  rise  on  most  other  articles  of  Victorian  pro- 
duce. The  export  of  wool  increased  during  that  period  by 
more  than  a  third,  showing  that  it  was  better  worth  the  while 
of  the  stock-owners  to  keep  their  sheep  than  to  send  them 
into  the  other  colonies  for  sale.  The  produce  of  gold  is 
necessarily  fluctuating,  and  cannot  be  taken  in  any  one  year 
as  an  indication  of  the  trade  of  the  country.  The  decrease 
in  the  imports  was  chiefly  on  grain  and  flour,  thus  showing 
that  the  country  had  progressed  in  the  important  work  of 
feeding  itself.  No  doubt,  whenever  new  gold-fields  are 
opened,  creating  new  "  rushes,"  or  old  gold-fields  show  them- 
selves to  be  for  a  time  specially  productive,  there  will  be  a 
sudden  influx  of  migratory  population,  and  successful  miners 
will  spend  money  freely.  They  will  thus  raise  the  imports 
by  their  consumption,  and  the  exports  by  the  gold  which 
they  send  away.  A  gold-producing  country  must  be  subject 
to  these  fluctuations,  but  they  can  hardly  be  taken  as  a 
proof  either  of  the  decay  or  the  rise  of  substantial  prosperity. 
As  to  the  substantial  prosperity  of  Victoria,  no  one,  I  think, 
who  has  visited  that  country  can  entertain  a  doubt.  It  is 
to  be  seen  in  the  daily  lives  of  the  colonists,  in  the  clothes 
which  they  wear,  in  the  food  which  they  eat,  in  the  wages 
which  they  receive,  in  the  education  of  their  children,  and 
in  the  general  comfort  of  the  people. 


TASMANIA. 


TASMANIA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

EARLY    HISTORY. 

It  seems  hard  to  say  of  a  colony,  not  yet  seventy  years  old, 
that  it  has  seen  the  best  of  its  days,  and  that  it  is  falling 
into  decay,  that  its  short  period  of  importance  in  the  world 
is  already  gone,  and  that  for  the  future  it  must  exist, — as 
many  an  old  town  and  old  country  do  exist, — not  exactly 
on  the  memory  of  the  past,  but  on  the  relics  which  the  past 
has  left  behind  it.  England  has  towns  of  her  own  at  home 
and  colonies  of  her  own  abroad, — it  would  be  invidious  to 
name  them, — of  which  this  may  truly  be  said.  On  visiting 
them  the  stranger  feels  assured  that  the  salt  of  life  has  gone 
out  of  them.  Trade  dwells  in  them  no  longer,  and  pros- 
perous men  do  not  move  about  their  streets.  Their  inhabi- 
tants are  contented  to  be  obscure,  and  generally  have 
neither  fears  nor  hopes.  Society  is  mild  and  dull,  and  the 
remnant  of  the  people  who  are  left  are  for  the  most  part 
satisfied  to  sit  and  wait.  But  a  young  colony  should  have 
young,  sparkling,  eager  life.  She  should  be  hopeful,  im- 
petuous, and  loud,  with  a  belief  in  her  destiny;  and  if  she 
be  given  somewhat  to  boasting,  she  will  not,  indeed,  thereby 
show  herself  to  be  possessed  of  an  actual  virtue,  but  will  give 
evidence  even  by  that  vice  of  the  strength  of  youth  which 
makes  a  community  at  first  buoyant  and  then  prosperous. 
Such  essentially  are  Queensland  and  Victoria,  which  force 
even  upon  unwilling  ears  a  conviction  of  their  strength  by 


128  TASMANIA. 

the  loudness  of  their  self-assertion  and  the  vigour  of  their 
confidence.  I  by  no  means  say  that  the  dreamy,  dusty 
quiescence  of  decay,  the  imbecility  of  old  age  which  does 
not  become  actual  death  because  so  little  of  the  energy  of 
life  is  expended  on  the  work  of  living  from  clay  to  day,  have 
become  the  lot  of  young  Tasmania ;  but  I  do  say  that 
Tasmanians  are  almost  united  in  declaring  so  of  themselves, 
and  that  they  have  said  so  till  the  other  colonies  are  quite 
united  in  repeating  the  story. 

Tasmania  as  Tasmania  is  very  young, — so  young  that 
many  old-fashioned  folk  at  home  hardly  recognise  her 
under  that  name,  and  still  know  her  as  Van  Diemen's  Land. 
That  name  is  now  odious  to  the  ears  of  Tasmanians,  as 
being  tainted  with  the  sound  of  the  gaol  and  harsh  with  the 
crack  of  the  gaoler's  whip  ;  but  it  was  under  that  name  that 
the  island  was  prosperous.  England  sent  her  convicts 
thither,  and  with  her  ruffians  sent  ^350,000  a  year  for 
their  custody  and  maintenance.  The  whole  revenue  of  the 
island,  including  Customs,  Inland  Revenue,  and  Land 
Fund,  does  not  now  exceed  ^£280,000.  And  die  money 
sent  from  England  was  by  no  means  all  the  wealth  which 
the  convicts  brought  with  them.  They  had  their  thews 
and  sinews,  and  the  free  squatters  of  Tasmania  knew  well 
how  to  turn  such  God-sends  into  money.  And  public 
works  were  done  magnificently  by  them, — on  the  doing  of 
which  sufficiently,  quickly,  and  without  too  close  a  regard 
to  any  immediate  return  of  money,  the  welfare  of  a  growing 
colony  almost  depends.  Roads  were  made,  and  buildings 
were  erected,  and  river-banks  were  cleared,  and  forests  were 
cut  down  with  a  thoroughness  which  proved  that  convicts 
were  at  any  rate  useiul.  But  though  useful  they  were 
disgraceful.  The  Van  Diemonians, — as  colonists  from  other 
colonies  are  wont  to  call  them  in  jeering  mirth, — had  a 
spirit  of  their  own  which  could  not  be  at  ease  within  a 
j>rison,  even  though  they  themselves  were  the  masters  and 
wardens,  and  kept  the  keys  of  the  prison.  It  began  to  be 
unendurable  to  them  that  their  beautiful  island,  the  sweetest 
in  climate,  the  loveliest  in  scenery,  the  richest  in  rivers  and 
harbours,  the  most  accessible  of  all  Great  Britain's  eastern 


EARLY  HISTORY.  129 

colonies,  should  be  known  to  the  world  only  as  Great 
Britain's  gaol.  So  they  spoke  their  mind,  and  of  course 
had  their  way, — as  has  been  the  case  with  all  Great  Britain's 
children  since  the  tea  was  thrown  overboard  at  Boston. 
The  convicts  were  made  to  cease,  and  Van  Diemen's  Land 
became  Tasmania,— Tasmania  with  free  institutions  of  its 
own,  with  representative  government,  with  Lords  and 
Commons,  with  a  public  debt,  with  its  own  taxes,  and  a 
right  to  govern  itself  by  its  own  laws, — so  long  as  it  should 
enact  no  laws  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  laws  of  England. 
It  became,  in  fact,  as  were  and  are  the  other  colonies,  all 
but  independent,  and  it  threw  off  from  itself  its  convict 
stain.  But  then,  as  a  matter  of  course,  it  threw  off  from 
itself  also  the  ^"350,000  a  year  which  in  one  shape  or 
another  the  convicts  used  to  bring  with  them  from  England, 
and  it  could  make  no  more  roads  and  put  up  no  more 
public  buildings  except  in  the  normal  way  of  the  world,  by 
paying  the  market  price  for  the  works  accomplished. 

The  feeling  of  disgrace,  the  aspiration  for  a  different  state 
of  things,  and  the  determination  to  be  quit  of  the  question- 
able well-being  of  a  convict  establishment,  were  very  grand 
on  the  part  of  the  free  settlers  of  Van  Diemen's  Land. 
There  was  more  in  it  than  in  the  same  resolution  on  the 
part  of  New  South  Wales; — for  New  South  Wales  was 
large,  and  was  achieving  property  in  another  way  when  it 
resolved  that  convicts  should  be  no  longer  received.  New 
South  Wales  made  no  such  sacrifice  as  did  Van  Diemen's 
Land.  The  government  money,  and  government  works, 
and  government  employment  were  no  longer  at  that  time 
all  in  all  to  New  South  Wales,  as  they  were  to  the  small 
colony  settled  in  the  southern  island,  which  had  been 
created  in  the  first  place  for  the  convicts,  and  then  nourished 
by  them.  A  great  fight  was  made  by  the  mother  country 
to  retain  the  right  thus  to  dispose  of  her  ruffians,  and  Sir 
William  Denison,  who  was  the  governor  of  the  clay  in  Van 
Diemen's  Land,  was  very  eager  in  his  attempt  to  perpetuate 
the  arrangement,  acting  no  doubt  under  instructions  from 
the  Colonial  Office  at  home.  But  the  feeling  against  the 
convicts  was  too  general,  and  the  people,  though  few  in 

K 


130  TASMANIA. . 

numbers,  were  too  strong  for  Sir  William  Denison.  In 
1851  and  1852,  when  the  agitation  was  going  on,  there 
were  less  than  75,000  free  inhabitants  in  the  colony,  but 
they  prevailed ; — and  as  a  consequence  the  money  was 
stopped  There  were  no  longer  British  troops  in  the  island, 
now  re-christened  as  Tasmania.  All  the  paraphernalia  of 
home  wealth,  and  home  empire,  and  home  influence  were 
withdrawn.  Of  course  there  has  been  a  reaction.  I  do  not 
dare  to  say  that  the  Tasmanians  regret  their  convicts  ;  but 
they  do  regret  the  attendant  expenditure  and  attendant 
ceremonies  of  the  convict  establishment.  The  colony  had 
been  fostered  by  extraneous  help  and  not  by  internal  energy. 
It  was  easier  to  see  and  to  feel  the  meanness  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world  of  this  position,  than  to  rise  at  once  to  the 
national  effort  necessary  for  success  on  its  withdrawal.  The 
"  Van  Diemonians  "  were  all  but  united  in  the  declaration 
of  their  determination  that  no  more  convicts  should  be  sent 
to  them.  They  are  now  almost  equally  united  in  their 
declaration  that  the  cessation  of  the  coming  of  the  convicts 
has-  been  their  ruin.  They  think  that  England  has  been 
hard  to  them  in  the  measure  of  justice  which  she  has  meted. 
There  might  have  been  a  regiment  or  at  any  rate  a  company 
of  soldiers  left  in  the  island, — a  few  red  jackets  if  only  to 
enliven  the  streets  and  gladden  the  eyes  of  the  women. 
Was  it  to  be  expected  that  all  the  money  was  to  be  with- 
drawn at  once, — or  if  not  quite  at  once  with  so  great 
rapidity  ?  There  still  remains,  and  will  yet  remain  for  a 
few  years,' — as  I  shall  explain  more  at  length  in  another 
chapter, — a  small  subsidy  for  the  expiring  needs  of  the  old 
establishment ;  but  that  is  becoming  less  and  less  every 
year,  and  the  want  of  the  money  is  felt  in  every  station  and 
in  every  shop. 

We  all  know  the  listlessness  and  unmanly  apathy  which 
has  hitherto  been  engendered  all  the  world  over  by  govern- 
ment pay.  In  England  for  the  last  twenty  years  we  have 
been  making  great  efforts  to  cure  the  evil,  but  the  fact  that 
the  efforts  have  been  found  to  be  necessary  is  the  best 
proof  of  the  truth  of  the  assertion.  Government  cannot  get 
the  same  work  out  of  its  workmen  that  is  got  by  private 


EARLY  HISTORY.  131 

employers.  It  cannot  build  a  ship,  or  manage  an  estate,  or 
erect  a  palace  with  that  economy  which  a  private  master 
can  ensure.  Six  hours  of  work,  diminished  perhaps  to  five 
or  four  as  opportunities  may  allow,  takes  the  place  of  the 
eight  hours  given  by  servants  employed  in  private  enter- 
prises. This  scope  for  idleness  produces  idleness  till  it 
becomes  the  great  blessing  of  the  service  that  real  work  is 
not  exacted.  To  pretend  to  do  something. — not  even  to 
pretend  to  do  much, — is  the  gentlemanlike  thing.  There 
has  been  much  of  all  this  in  England,  but  more  of  it,  I 
think,  among  Englishmen  employed  out  of  England.  "I  he 
evil  is  by  no  means  limited  to  the  clerk,  or  secretary,  or 
commissioner  who  feels  himself  to  be  a  great  man  because 
he  has  very  little  to  do  for  his  salary,  but  extends  itself  to 
all  those  who  see  and  know  and  envy  the  great  man.  A 
profuse  expenditure  of  government  money  in  any  com- 
munity will  taint  the  whole  of  it  with  the  pervading  sin. 
Men  learn  to  regard  the  government  as  babies  regard  the 
nurse, — and  are  like  the  big  calf  which  can  only  be  kept 
from  its  overwrought  mother's  dugs  by  some  process  of 
disagreeable  expulsion.  Personal  enterprise  and  national 
enterprise  are  equally  destroyed  by  it.  In  Dublin,  you  are 
told  that  Dublin  could  not  thrive  if  the  Lord  Lieutenant 
were  withdrawn  ;  and,  consequently,  Dublin  with  its  Lord 
Lieutenant  dDes  not  thrive.  Of  all  food  this  national 
mother's  milk,  when  taken  beyond  the  period  of  infancy,  is 
the  most  enervating.  Van  Diemen's  Land  had  the  strength 
of  character  necessary  for  the  abandonment  of  it  by  her 
own  effort.  I  think  myself  that  she  has  a  constitution  suf- 
ficiently strong  to  enable  her  to  live  through  the  consequent 
crisis,  and  to  walk  honestly  on  her  own  legs  after  a  period 
of  weakness.  In  the  meantime  she  feels  herself  to  be  sick, 
and  she  longs  for  the  unwholesome  nourishment  which  she 
herself  was  wise  enough  to  throw  away  from  her. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  the  island  now  called  Tasmania 
lies  south  of  Australia.  The  port  of  Launceston,  which  is 
the  largest  town  in  the  northern  division  of  the  island,  is,  at 
the  present  rate  of  steaming,  about  twenty-five  hours  distant 
from  the  port  of  Melbourne.     The  island,  with  the  small 


132  TASMANIA, 

adjacent  islands  belonging  to  it,  is  somewhat  smaller  than 
Ireland.  It  comprises  nearly  seventeen  million  acres,  of 
which  less  than  a  fourth  have  been  alienated  from  the 
Crown, — that  is,  purchased  and  used  by  settlers  in  the 
colony.  A  small  portion  of  the  vast  remaining  area  is 
leased  by  the  Crown  to  squatters,  and  is  depastured, — if  I 
may  use  a  word  which  I  have  found  to  be  common  in  the 
colonies  ;  but  by  far  the  greater  proportion  of  the  island  is 
covered  by  dense  unexplored  forests  of  gum  trees.  It  is 
now  divided  into  eighteen  counties,  of  which  five  in  the 
west  are,  as  far  as  I  could  learn,  altogether  uninhabited  and 
uninhabitable.  Of  others  only  strips  of  land  near  the  sea 
or  by  the  side  of  rivers  have  been  "  taken  up."  It  is 
mountainous,  the  mountains  boasting  of  but  moderate  alti- 
tudes,— 5,000  feet,  and  the  like.  It  is  intersected  by  many 
rivers,  and  watered  by  many  lakes,  being  in  this  respect 
altogether  unlike  the  mainland  of  Australia.  It  was  dis- 
covered in  1642,  originally  by  Abel  Jan  Tasman,  a  Dutch- 
man,— as  were  so  many  of  the  Australian  pioneers.  Tasman, 
so  says  the  legend,  was  violently  in  love  with  Maria,  the 
daughter  of  one  Van  Diemen,  who  in  those  days  was 
governor  of  the  Dutch  East  Indian  possessions.  Tasman 
had  been  sent  out  on  this  expedition  by  Van  Diemen,  and 
showed  his  gratitude  and  gallantry  by  the  liberal  use  of  his 
patron's  name  and  that  of  his  patron's  daughter  in  the 
nomenclature  of  the  places  he  discovered.  The  whole 
country  he  called  Van  Diemen's  Land.  The  largest  of  the 
adjacent  islands  which  he  saw  he  christened  Maria.  The 
lady's  name  still  stands  on  the  maps;  but  posterity,  with  a 
justice  which  is  not  customary  in  such  matters,  after  more 
than  two  centuries,  in  its  hatred  of  a  sound  which  had  become 
connected  all  over  the  world  with  rascaldom,  has  gone  back 
to  the  real  discoverer,  and  has  created  for  the  colony  the 
name  of  Tasmania.  For  many  years  after  Tasman's  discovery 
it  was  thought  to  be  a  part  of  the  continent  of  New  Holland,  as 
Australia  was  then  called.  It  was  not  till  1798  that  George 
Bass  discovered  the  straits  which  still  bear  his  name.  In 
1803  the  island  was  first  occupied  on  behalf  of  Great 
Britain  by  a  party  sent  from  New  South  Wales,  and  in  1 804 


EARLY  HISTORY.  133 

Colonel  David  Collins  was  appointed  as  its  first  lieutenant- 
governor,  he  being  at  that  time  subject  to  the  governor  of 
the  parent  colony.  The  settlement  in  Van  Diemen's  Land 
was  made  with  the  express  intention  of  relieving  New  South 
Wales  of  a  portion  of  its  convicts,  and  specially  with  a  view 
of  sending  thither  those  who  had  been  hitherto  stationed  at 
Norfolk  Island, — which  place  had  been  found  to  be  ill 
fitted  for  the  purpose.  At  this  time  the  only,  or  at  least  by 
far  the  paramount,  interest  taken  by  the  mother  country  in 
the  possession  of  Australia  had  reference  to  her  convicts. 
New  South  Wales  had  been  found  to  be  a  place  to  which 
convicts  could  conveniently  be  sent ;  but  the  number  which 
could  be  safely  kept  there  was  not  sufficient  for  the  purposes 
of  the  home  government.  Van  Diemen's  Land  might  supply 
the  deficiency,  and  to  Van  Diemen's  Land  were  dispatched 
a  certain  proportion  of  the  convicts  who  crowded  and  em- 
barrassed the  hands  of  the  governor  of  New  South  Wales. 
Two  stations  were  opened,  the  first  on  the  north  and  the 
second  on  the  south  side  of  the  island.  And  thus  sprang 
up  two  towns,  Launceston  on  the  Tamar  in  the  north,  and 
Hobart  Town  on  the  Derwent  in  the  south.  These  are 
still  the  chief  and,  perhaps  I  may  say  without  offence  to 
various  flourishing  villages,  the  only  towns  in  Tasmania; 
and  they  are  joined  together  by  such  a  road,  120  miles  in 
length,  as  is  not  to  be  found  elsewhere  in  the  Australian 
colonies.  This  was,  of  course,  made  altogether  by  convict 
labour. 

From  this  time,  1804,  down  to  the  year  1856,  when 
responsible  government  began,  the  history  of  Van  Diemen's 
Land  is  simply  the  history  of  a  convict  establishment.  How 
to  manage  convicts,  how  to  get  work  out  of  them  with  the 
least  possible  chance  of  escape,  how  to  catch  them  when 
they  did  escape,  how  to  give  them  liberty  when  they  made 
no  attempt  to  escape,  how  to  punish  them,  and  how  not  to 
punish  them,  how  to  make  them  understand  that  they  were 
simply  beasts  of  burden  reduced  to  that  degree  by  their  own 
vileness,  and  how  to  make  them  understand  at  the  same 
time  that  if  under  the  most  difficult  circumstances  for  the 
exercise  of  virtue  they  would  cease  to  be  vicious,  they  might 


I3V  TASMANIA. 

cease  also  to  be  beasts  of  burden, — these  were  the  tasks 
which  were  imposed,  not  only  upon  the  governors  and  their 
satellites,  not  only  on  all  officers  military  and  civil,  not  only 
on  the  army  of  gaolers,  warders,  and  such  like,  which  was 
necessary,  but  also  on  every  free  settler  and  on  every  free 
man  in  the  island.  For  no  one  who  had  cast  in  his  lot  with 
Van  Diemen's  Land  could  be  free  from  the  taint  of  the 
establishment,  or  unconnected  with  the  advantages  which  it 
certainly  bestowed. 

A  double  set  of  horrors  is  told  of  the  convict  establish- 
ment of  Van  Diemen's  Land, — of  horrors  arising  from  the 
cruelty  of  the  tyrant  gaolers  to  their  prison  slaves,  and  of 
horrors  created  by  these  slaves  when  they  escaped  and 
became  bushrangers.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  almost 
every  squatter  was  a  gaoler,  and  that  almost  every  servant 
was  a  slave.  But  no  tidings  that  are  told  through  the  world 
exaggerate  themselves  with  so  much  ease  as  the  tidings  of 
horrors.  They  who  are  most  shocked  at  them,  women  who 
grow  pale  at  the  hearing  and  almost  shriek  as  the  stories  are 
told  them,  delight  to  have  the  stories  so  told  that  they  may 
be  justified  in  shrieking.  The  ball  grows  as  it  is  rolled,  and 
the  pile  of  wonder  is  accumulated.  But  no  doubt  the  work 
to  be  done  was  very  nasty  work,  and  there  was  of  necessity 
much  of  roughness  on  both  sides.  It  must  be  understood 
that  these  prisoners  in  Van  Diemen's  Land  were  not  to  be 
kept  as  prisoners  are  kept  in  our  county  gaols  and  peni- 
tentiaries at  home.  They  were  to  be  out  at  work  wherever 
the  present  need  of  work  might  be.  Nor  were  they  to  be 
watched  when  at  work  by  regular  warders  as  many  of  us 
have  seen  to  be  done  with  gangs  of  prisoners  at  Portland, 
Portsmouth,  and  elsewhere  at  home, — so  watched  that  im- 
mediate escape,  though  not  perhaps  impossible,  is  very 
difficult.  A  portion  of  the  convicts  sent  to  Van  Diemen's 
Land  were  no  doubt  locked  up  from  the  first,  a  portion 
were  employed  on  government  works  and  were  probably 
kept  under  close  though  not  continued  surveillance ; — but 
the  majority  both  of  men  and  women  were  sent  out  as 
servants  to  the  free  settlers,  who  were  responsible,  if  not 
directly  for  the  safe  custody  of  those  entrusted  to  therm  at 


EARLY  HISTORY.  135 

least  for  immediate  report  should  any  escape.  The  first 
preliminaries  of  escape  were  easy.  A  man  could  run  into 
the  bush,  and  be  quit  at  any  rate  of  the  labour  of  the  hour. 
If  he  were  shepherding  sheep,  or  building  fences,  or  felling 
timber,  during  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  no  eye  unless 
that  of  a  brother  convict  was  upon  him.  He  could  go,  and 
the  chances  of  the  world  were  open  to  him.  But  when 
these  first  preliminaries  were  so  easy  it  was  of  course  essen- 
tial that  they  should  ordinarily  be  rendered  unsuccessful,  and 
that  the  attempt  should  be  followed  by  speedy  and  sharp 
punishment.  The  escaped  convict  was  at  once  hunted,  and 
generally  tracked  by  the  facilities  which  starvation  afforded 
to  his  pursuers.  No  one  but  an  escaped  convict  would  feed 
an  escaped  convict,  and  none  but  they  who  had  established 
themselves  as  bushrangers  had  food  either  to  eat  or  to  give. 
Even  the  established  bushrangers,  who  had  homes  of  some 
sort  in  the  mountain  recesses,  who  were  in  league  with  the 
blacks,  and  who  knew  how  to  take  the  wild  animals,  the 
kangaroos  and  walliby  and  opossums,  were  not  unfrequently 
driven  by  famine  to  surrender  themselves. 

Of  course  the  escapes  were  numerous,  and  of  course  the 
punishments  were  severe.  And  it  was  not  only  that  the 
men  would  escape,  but  also  that  when  punctual  to  hours  and 
punctual  in  the  receipt  of  their  rations,  they  would  not  earn 
their  rations  by  work.  They  would  not  work  after  such  a 
fashion  as  to  please  their  masters ; — and,  as  a  necessity,  the 
masters  had  a  redress  for  such  occasions.  A  convict  who 
would  only  eat  rations  and  never  earn  them, — and  who 
could  not  be  dismissed  as  can  an  ordinary  idle  servant, — 
required  some  treatment  more  or  less  severe.  The  master 
himself  was  not  allowed  to  inflict  corporal  punishment, — but 
the  neighbouring  magistrate  was  entrusted  with  that  power. 
The  magistrate  could,  on  hearing  sufficient  evidence  of  wilful 
idleness  or  other  delinquency,  inflict  a  certain  number  of 
lashes.  The  thing  became  so  common,  of  such  everyday 
occurrence,  that  very  light  evidence  was  soon  found  to  be 
sufficient.  The  neighbouring  settler  or  squatter  was  pro- 
bably the  friend  of  the  magistrate,  who  was  a  squatter  him- 
self j  and  what  better, — indeed  what  other  evidence  could 


136  TASMANIA. 

the  magistrate  have  than  his  friend's  word  ?  The  practice 
became  very  simple  at  last.  If  the  man  would  not  work,  or 
worked  amiss,  or  was  held  to  have  sinned  in  any  way  against 
his  master's  discipline,  he  was  sent  to  the  magistrate  to  be 
flogged.  He  himself  would  be  the  bearer  of  some  short 
note.  "  Dear  Sir, — Please  give  the  bearer  three  dozen,  and 
return  him."  The  man  as  a  rule  would  take  the  note, — and 
the  three  dozen,  and  would  return.  A  bold  spirit  would 
perhaps  run  away.  Then  he  would  be  tracked  and  dogged 
and  starved,  till  he  either  came  back  or  was  brought  back, 
— and  the  last  state  of  that  man  would  be  worse  than  the 
first. 

Of  course  these  were  horrors.  The  men  who  did  escape, 
and  some  who  did  not,  committed  fresh  crimes  and  under- 
went fresh  trials, — with  very  small  chance  of  verdicts  in 
their  favour.  And  of  all  crimes  murder  and  attempts  to 
murder  seem  to  have  been  most  in  excess.  Men  were 
hung  for  murder  and  attempts  to  murder  and  for  various 
other  crimes.  The  hangings  were  frequent  and  gave  rise  to 
sharp  expostulations.  There  is  a  story  in  the  island  that  the 
gaol  chaplain  at  Hobart  Town  once  remonstrated, — not 
against  hanging  in  general  or  the  number  that  were  hung, — 
but  as  to  the  inconvenient  celerity  with  which  the  ceremony 
was  performed.  Thirteen  men,  he  said,  could  be  comfort- 
ably hung  at  once,  but  no  more.  The  crowding  had  been 
too  great,  and  he  trusted  that  for  the  future  the  accommoda- 
tion afforded  by  the  gaol  might  not  be  too  far  stretched. 
The  hangman  was  a  great  and  well-paid  official.  There  were 
flagellat®rs  also,  generally  convicts  themselves,  promoted  to 
the  honourable  employment  of  flogging  their  brethren  at  the 
different  stations.  There  is  still,  I  am  told,  an  old  pen- 
sioned hangman  living  under  protection  in  the  island.  The 
flagellators  have  disappeared,  some  having  gone  to  Victoria 
as  miners,  some  having  died  in  their  bed, — a  reasonable  pro- 
portion having  been  murdered.  It  may  be  understood  that 
the  flagellators  would  not  be  popular. 

Not  a  few  of  these  forlorn  ones  did  escape  and  make  their 
way  into  the  wilderness,  living  in  holes  and  amidst  rocks  and 
sometimes  in  habitations  built  for  themselves  in  the  deep 


EARLY   HISTORY.  137 

recesses  of  the  forests.  The  names  of  some  of  these  still 
live  in  the  memory  of  old  Tasmanians,  and  some  few  still 
live  themselves  as  respectable  members  of  society.  There 
was  one  Brady,  who  seems  to  have  possessed  himself  of  half 
the  mountain  tops  in  the  island,  for,  let  the  traveller  go 
where  he  will,  he  will  be  shown  a  "  Brady's  Look-out." 
Brady,  I  think,  was  hung  at  last.  And  there  was  one  Howe, 
who  had  a  wonderful  career,  living  with  a  native  girl  whom 
he  at  last  murdered  because  she  was  not  fleet  enough  of 
foot  to  escape  with  him,  and  who  was  himself  at  last  mur- 
dered by  a  companion.  And  then  there  Was  one  Cash,  who 
had  a  long  career  as  a  bushranger,  and  who  now  lives  in 
dignified  and  easy  retirement.  There  is  also  one  Markham, 
now  carrying  on  business  satisfactorily  as  a  gardener,  who 
lived  for  seven  years  in  a  retreat  he  made  for  himself  in  the 
bush,  coming  down  occasionally  and  stealing  such,  articles  as 
were  essential  for  him,  growing  a  little  wheat  on  a  plot  round 
his  cottage,  keeping  a  goat  and  rearing  a  few  sheep.  For 
seven  years  the  man  lived  on  in  this  way,  all  alone,  undis- 
covered, sufficing  in  all  things  for  himself, — except  in  regard 
to  those  occasional  thefts  from  his  nearest  neighbour.  Then 
the  solitude  became  too  much  for  him,  and  he  crept  down 
to  a  neighbour's  house,- — the  squatter  from  whom  he  had 
been  accustomed  to  steal, — and  finding  the  mistress  of  the 
family,  he  gave  himself  up  to  her  in  order  that  the  law  might 
do  as  it  would  with  him.  The  squatter,  who  had  been  the 
man's  prey,  was  an  Irish  gentleman,  with  a  tender  heart, 
who  felt  thankful  to  the  man  for  not  having  murdered  his 
wife  and  children.  Having  position  and  influence  he  inter- 
fered on  the  man's  behalf,  and  the  law  was  lenient  and  the 
man  was  pardoned.  The  story  was  told  to  me  by  the  lady 
to  whom  Markham  surrendered  himself,  wild,  with  long 
locks,  clothed  in  a  sheepskin,  haggard  with  solitude,  tired 
out  with  absolute  independence.  Now  he  is  a  prosperous 
grower  of  apples.  What  an  episode  in  life  for  a  man  to 
carry  about  always  in  his  memory  ! 

There  was  much  of  murder  and  robbery  ;  much  of  hanging 
and  slavery.  English  settlers  to  whom  convicts  were  as- 
signed  of  course   learned   the   sweets   of  slavery.      Their 


138  TASMANIA. 

servants  were  intelligent  beasts  of  burden,  who  had  only  to 
be  fed,  coerced,  and  made  to  work.  The  slave  too  was  not 
purchased,  and  if  he  died  there  was  no  loss.  The  system  of 
course  was  bad,  as  with  our  present  lights  we  can  see  plainly 
enough.  But  though  the  system  was  bad,  the  men  who 
carried  it  out  did,  I  think,  mainly  strive  to  do  so  to  a  good 
end.  Though  one  hears  much  of  flogging  in  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  one  hears  still  more  of  the  excellence  of  the  service 
rendered  by  convicts.  Ladies  especially  are  never  weary  of 
telling  how  good  and  how  faithiul  were  the  females  allotted 
to  them  and  to  their  mothers.  Indeed  it  is  from  the  ladies 
of  the  colony  that  one  hears  the  loudest  regrets  in  regard  to 
the  good  things  that  have  now  been  lost  for  ever.  And 
though  the  ladies  are  the  loudest,  men  also  tell  of  the  excel- 
lence of  the  convicts  by  whose  labour  they  were  enriched 
in  the  old  days.  Again,  on  the  other  hand,  the  inquirer  is 
constantly  startled  by  the  respectability  of  career  and  emi- 
nent success  of  many  a  pardoned  convict.  Men  who  came 
out  nominally  for  life  were  free  and  earning  large  incomes 
within  comparatively  few  years.  Unless  a  man  were  recon- 
victed he  was  sure  to  be  made  free,  having  at  first  a  ticket 
of  leave,  which  enabled  him  to  work  within  a  certain  dis- 
trict on  his  own  behalf,  and  then  a  conditional  pardon,  which 
allowed  him  to  go  anywhere  except  to  England.  In  the 
records  of  Tasmania,  which  we  have  at  home,  we  are  told  of 
the  cruelty  and  sufferings  inflicted  and  endured  on  both 
sides,  of  the  cruelty  of  masters  and  of  all  that  their  slaves 
endured,  of  the  bloodthirsty  malignity  of  bushrangers,  and  oj 
the  evils  which  they  perpetrated  on  the  community.  Horrors 
are  always  so  popular  that  of  course  such  tales  are  told  the 
loudest.  Enduring  good  conduct  with  good  results  creates 
no  sensational  enjoyment,  and  therefore  we  hear  little  or 
nothing  of  masters  and  mistresses  so  satisfied  with  the 
docility  of  convicts  as  to  find  them  superior  to  free  servants, 
or  of  men  who  have  been  sent  from  England  as  abject, 
nameless  wretches,  who  have  risen,  after  a  period  of  penal 
service,  to  opulence,  respectability,  and  almost  to  honour. 

When   the  establishment  was  first  set   on   foot  in   Van 
Piemen's  Land?  not  only  were  convicts  sent  out  to  certain 


EARLY  HISTORY.  139 

of  the  settlers  as  labourers  without  hire,  but  the  settlers  who 
took  them  had  with  each  convict  a  grant  of  land, — so  many- 
acres  for  each  convict  taken.  The  owner  of  the  slave  was 
then  bound  to  feed  and  clothe  the  man,  but  was  not  required 
to  pay  him  any  wages.  That  the  convicts  were  sufficiently 
fed  and  clad  by  their  employers  I  have  never  heard  denied. 
Indeed  food  was  so  cheap, — or  at  least  meat  was  so, — that 
no  deficiency  in  this  respect  was  probable.  Nor,  as  far  as  I 
can  learn,  were  the  men  overworked.  No  doubt  the  amount 
of  labour  performed  by  them  daily  was  less  than  that  ordi- 
narily given  by  free  labourers.  But  absolute  submission  was 
required  from  them, — that  absolute  touch-your-hat-and-look- 
humble  submission  which  to  this  day  is  considered  necessary 
among  soldiers.  They  were  to  give  implicit  obedience,  and 
masters  accustomed  to  implicit  obedience  and  absolute  sub- 
mission are  apt  to  become  arbitrary.  And  the  scourge, 
when  it  is  in  use,  recommends  itself  strongly  to  those  who 
use  it.  The  system  could  not  but  be  evil.  Then,— after 
some  years,  wages  of  £g  per  annum  were  required  from  the 
masters  for  each  man, — out  of  which  the  men  found  their 
own  clothes.  This  was  a  great  improvement  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  convicts,  as  they  were  thus  enabled  to  own 
property  and  to  exercise  some  of  the  rights  of  free  men. 
At  the  same  time  they  had  awarded  to  them  the  privilege  of 
leaving  their  masters  if  they  chose,  and  of  going  on  to  the 
public  works.  This  was  a  privilege  which  was  but  seldom 
exercised,  as  private  work  and  private  rations  and  private 
discipline  were  always  better  than  the  work  and  rations  and 
discipline  of  the  public  gangs.  But  it  was  something  for  a 
man  who  could  not  endure  a  master  to  be  able  to  shake 
that  master's  yoke  from  his  neck. 

In  different  parts  of  the  island,  as  the  public  works  de- 
manded, large  stations  were  built  for  those  employed.  There 
were  various  of  these  stations  on  the  route  from  Launceston 
to  Hobart  Town,  where  the  men  were  kept  while  they  con- 
structed the  road.  They  were  built  of  stone,  aM  the  ruins 
of  them  are  still  to  be  seen  on  the  roadside.  Here  also 
resided  wardens  and  gaolers  and  flagellators,  and  I  fancy 
that  life  in  the  gangs  was  generally  very  much  worse  than 


140  TASMANIA. 

life  in  private  service.  The  streets  and  roads  about  Hobart 
Town  were  made  after  this  fashion,  and  many  of  the  public 
buildings  were  put  up  by  the  convicts.  The  traveller  is 
astonished  at  the  neatness  and  excellence  of  these  works  in 
Hobart  Town  till  he  learns  by  degrees  what  it  was  that  con- 
vict labour  in  old  days  did  for  a  convict  establishment. 

And  there  was  a  third  mode  of  bestowing  the  convicts  in 
Tasmania  which  was, — and  indeed  is,  for  it  still  remains, — • 
the  most  remarkable  of  the  three.  There  were  men  who 
could  neither  be  sent  out  as  private  servants,  or  even  trusted 
to  work  in  gangs, — men  for  whom  a  prison  home  was  needed. 
A  prison  home  also  was  needed  for  the  new  coiners,  as  to 
whom  in  the  first  months  of  their  service  solitary  confine- 
ment and  good  discipline  were  a  part  of  the  bad  bargain 
they  had  made  for  themselves.  This  pi;'ur  ^  Y^"1"  a  while 
established  at  Port  Arthur,  a  peninsulr*1  naiJcl:  ti:ie.he  main- 
land by  a  neck  of  land  only  a  few  X  °  c^ee'and  has 
been,  I  think,  in  many  respects  the  ri^rmc';^  Mable,  as  it 
is  probably  the  most  picturesque,  priso?  earirJFi'shment  in  the 
world.  It  is  still  in  operation,  as  a  certam  proportion  of  old 
English  convicts  are  yet  in  durance,  and  I  shall  therefore 
speak  of  it  in  the  next  chapter.  Now  it  is  altogether  under 
colonial  control ;  but  it  has  been  so  only  for  a  year  or  two. 
The  transfer  was,  I  think,  finally  made  in  1870,  till  which 
time  Port  Arthur  was  an  imperial  establishment.  Perhaps 
no  spot  on  the  globe  has  been  the  residence  during  the  last 
sixty  years  of  greater  suffering  or  of  guiltier  thoughts. 

The  system  of  transportation  as  carried  on  in  Van  Die- 
men's  Land  no  doubt  was  bad.  It  was  bad  to  stain  with  the 
crime  of  so  many  criminals  a  community  which  must  neces- 
sarily be  in  itself  so  small.  It  could  never  have  been  hoped 
that  the  population  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  could  swallow 
up  so  large  a  body  of  English  criminals  as  would  be  sent 
thither,  without  becoming  a  people  especially  noted  for  its 
convict  element.  And  yet  it  was  never  intended  that  Van 
Diemen's  I  .aid  should  be  devoted  to  convicts,  as  was  Nor- 
folk Island,  and  as  is  the  little  spot  of  land  called  Spike 
Island  in  the  Cove  of  Cork.  And  the  portioning  out  of 
convicts  to  settlers  to  be  employed  as  labourers  was  bad ; 


s 


EARLY  HISTORY.  141 

for  it  created  a  taste  fir  slavery  which  has  not  yet  lost  its 
relish  on  the  palate  of  many  Tasmanians.  A  certain  amount 
of  harshness  and  bitter  suffering  was,  no  doubt,  incidental 
to  it.  But  I  do  not  believe  that  men  became  fiends  under 
its  working.  The  fiends  came  out  ready  made,  from  En 
land,  and  were  on  the  whole  treated  with  no  undue  severity 
Of  course  there  were  exceptions, — and  the  exceptions  have 
reached  the  public  ear  much  more  readily  than  has  the  true 
history.  Nevertheless  the  people  rebelled  against  the  system, 
■ — or  rather  repudiated  it  with  such  strength,  that  the  govern- 
ment at  home  was  at  last  forced  to  give  way. 

In  1853  Van  Diemen's  Land  ceased  to  receive  convicts, 
and  in  1856,  following  the  example  of  her  elder  and  younger 
sisters  on  the  Australian  continent,  she  went  to  work  with 
a  representative  government  of  her  own.  There  had  been 
considerable  difference  of  opinion  between  the  colony  and 
the  mother  country.  The  convict  establishment  was  very 
convenient  to  us.  We  all  know  well  how  hard  of  solution 
is  the  question  of  the  future  disposition  of  the  man  against 
whom  a  judge  has  with  great  facility  pronounced  a  sentence 
of  penal  servitude  for  a  certain  term  of  years.  Whither 
shall  we  send  our  afflicted  brother  ?  Our  depots  at  home 
are  small  and  easily  crowded.  Van  Diemen's  Land  in  this 
respect  was  convenient,  and  was  at  first  hardly  thought  to 
have  a  voice  loud  enough  to  make  itself  heard.  The  gover- 
nor of  the  day,  Sir  William  Denison,  did  what  he  could  to 
save  the  thing.  But  the  people  were  in  earnest  and  they 
prevailed. 

Up  to  that  time  the  colony  had  no  doubt  prospered. 
Wool,  the  staple  of  all  the  Australian  colonies,  had  been 
grown  with  great  profit  in  the  island.  It  was  from  Van 
Diemen's  Land  that  the  district  now  called  Victoria  had 
been  first  supplied  with  sheep.  It  was  found  that  almost 
every  plant  and  almost  every  animal  that  thrives  in  England 
could  be  acclimatized  in  an  island  whose  climate  is  only  a 
little  warmer  than  that  of  England,  and  a  little  more  dry. 
It  became  known  in  the  East  for  its  breed  of  horses,  for  its 
whale  fishery, — which  was  pre-eminently  successful, — for  its 
wheat  and  oats,  and  especially  for  its  fruit.     It  could  supply 


U2  TASMANIA. 

all  Australia  with  fruit  if  only  all  Australia  could  be  made 
to  take  it.  For  a  time  the  markets  were  at  any  rate  good 
enough  to  secure  wealth.  Men  in  Van  Diemen's  Land 
became  rich,  and  both  Launceston  and  Hobart  Town  were 
prosperous  boroughs.  Schools  were  general,  hospitals  were 
established,  the  institutions  of  the  colony  generally  were  ex- 
cellent. Van  Diemen's  Land  had  not  indeed  a  great  repu- 
tation. It  had  a  name  that  seemed  to  carry  a  taunt  in 
men's  ears.  Bat  it  was  prosperous  and  fat;  and,  unless 
when  the  bushrangers  were  in  ascendency,  the  people  were 
happy.  Such  was  their  history  up  to  1856,  when  transpor- 
tation had  been  abolished  and  representative  government 
was  commenced.  Now  the  Tasmanians  declare  themselves 
to  be  ruined,  and  are  not  slow  to  let  a  stranger  know  that 
the  last  new  name  given  to  the  island  is  that  of  "  Sleepy 
Hollow."  When  the  stranger  asks  the  reason  of  this  ruin, 
he  is  told  that  all  the  public  money  has  gone  with  the  con- 
victs, and  that — the  rabbits  have  eaten  up  all  the  grass. 
The  rabbits,  like  the  sheep,  have  been  imported  from 
Europe,  and  the  rabbits  have  got  ahead  of  the  sheep.  "  If 
it  was  not  that  this  is  Sleepy  Hollow,"  they  say,  "  we  should 
stir  ourselves  and  get  rid  of  the  rabbits.  But  it  is  Sleepy 
Hollow,  and  so  we  don't." 


CHAPTER  II. 

PORT     ARTHUR. 

When  it  had  been  decided  between  the  mother  country 
and  the  colony  that  transportation  to  Van  Diemen's  Land 
should  be  at  an  end,  the  colonial  Houses  of  Parliament 
petitioned  the  Queen  that  the  name  might  be  changed, — so 
that  the  convict  flavour  and  the  convict  odour  attached  to 
the  old  sound  might  be  banished ;  and  the  Queen  of  course 
assented.  Hence  has  sprung  in  the  catalogue  of  our  colo- 
nies the  name  of  Tasmania,  as  pretty  as  any  that  we  have, 
but  to  my  ears  somewhat  fantastic.  In  New  South  Wales, 
with  its  enormous  area,  and  in  the  absence  of  any  sea 
barriers  by  which  convicts  could  be  hemmed  in,  the  traveller 
does  not  at  present  hear  much  about  convicts.  They  have 
wandered  away  whither  they  would.  Now  and  then  good- 
natured  reference  is  made,  in  regard  to  some  lady  or  gentle- 
man, to  the  fact  that  her  or  his  father  was  "  lagged,"  and 
occasionally  up  in  the  bush  a  shepherd  may  be  found  who 
will  own  to  the  soft  impeachment  of  having  been  lagged 
himself, — though  always  for  some  offence  which  is  supposed 
to  have  in  it  more  of  nobility  than  depravity.  But  in  Tas- 
mania the  records  are  recent,  fresh,  and  ever  present.  There 
is  still  felt  the  necessity  of  adhering  to  a  social  rule  that 
no  convict,  whatever  may  have  been  his  success,  shall  be 
received  into  society.  "  But  if  he  should  be  a  member  of 
the  Assembly?"  I  asked.  Well,  yes,  my  informant  acknow- 
ledged that  there  would  be  a  difficulty.  There  are  occa- 
sions on  which  a  member  of  the  Assembly  may  almost 
demand  to  be  entertained, — as  a  member  of  the  House  of 


144  TASMANIA. 

Commons  has,  I  imagine,  almost  a  right  to  dine  with  the 
Speaker.  It  is  not  only  that  men  and  women  in  Tasmania 
do  not  choose  to  herd  with  convicts,  but  that  they  are  on 
their  guard  lest  it  might  be  supposed  that  their  own  existence 
in  the  island  might  be  traced  back  to  the  career  of  some 
criminal  relative. 

In  the  meantime,  though  a  new  name  sweet  as  a  rose  has 
been  invented,  the  odour  and  the  flavour  have  not  as  yet 
quite  passed  away.  A  certain  number  of  convicts  are  at 
work  on  the  public  domain  in  Hobart  Town,  but  they  are 
always  the  convicts  of  the  island, — men  who  have  received 
their  sentences  for  deeds  done  in  Tasmania.  At  the  extreme 
south-west  of  the  island, — in  a  peninsula  called  by  the  name 
of  Tasman,  which  is  all  but  an  island, — is  maintained  a 
station  called  Port  Arthur,  and  there  are  at  present  kept  as 
many  as  remain  of  the  old  English  exiles.  With  them  are 
a  portion  of  the  convicts  of  the  island.  For  those  who 
were  sent  out  from  England,  England  still  pays  the  cost  of 
maintenance,  amounting  to  ^36  jgs.  Zd.  per  annum  for 
each  man  under  sentence,  and  something  less  for  lunatics 
and  paupers.  Of  these  the  great  majority  are  now  either 
paupers  or  lunatics,  who  would  be  free  were  they  able  to 
earn  their  own  bread.  England  also  pays,  and  will,  by 
agreement,  continue  to  pay  for  some  further  term  of  eight 
or  nine  years,  a  lump  sum  of  £6,oco  per  annum  towards 
the  general  police  expenses,  which  were  commenced  on 
behalf  of  the  mother  country.  When  an  English  convict, 
who  has  had  a  conditional  pardon,  is  reconvicted,  he  is 
maintained  at  the  expense  of  the  colony  if  reconvicted  after 
a  period  of  six  months  of  freedom  ; — but  at  the  expense  of 
England  if  within  that  period.  And  so  the  convict  system 
is  dying  out  in  Tasmania,  and  will  soon  be  extinct,  and  at 
last  the  odour  and  the  flavour  will  be  gone. 

I  visited  Port  Arthur,  and  was  troubled  by  many  reflec- 
tions as  to  the  future  destiny  of  so  remarkable  a  place.  It 
is  in  a  direct  line  not,  I  believe,  above  sixty  miles  from 
Hobart  Town,  but  it  can  hardly  be  reached  directly.  The 
way  to  it  is  by  water,  and  as  there  is  no  traffic  to  or  from 
the  place  other  than  what  is  carried  on  by  the  government 


J'ORT  ARTHUR.  145 

for  the  supply  of  the  establishment,  a  sailing  schooner  is 
sufficient, — and  indeed  more  than  sufficiently  expensive. 
In  this  schooner  I  was  taken  under  the  kind  guidance  of 
the  premier  and  attorney-general  of  the  island,  who  were 
called  upon  in  the  performance  of  their  duties  to  inspect 
the  place  and  hear  complaints, — if  complaints  there  were. 
We  started  at  midnight,  and  as  we  were  told  at  break  of 
day  that  we  had  made  only  four  miles  down  the  bay,  I 
began  to  fear  that  the  expedition  would  be  long.  .  But  the 
wind  at  last  favoured  us,  and  at  about  noon  we  were  landed 
at  Tasman's  peninsula  in  Norfolk  Bay,  and  there  we  found 
the  commandant  of  the  establishment  and  horses  to  carry 
us  whither  we  would.  We  found  also  a  breakfast  at  the 
policeman's  house,  of  which  we  were  very  much  in  want. 

Tasman's  peninsula,  which  has  been  held  entire  by  the 
Crown  for  the  purposes  of  the  convict  establishment,  is  an 
irregularly  formed  piece  of  land  about  twenty-five  miles  long 
and  twelve  broad,  indented  by  various  bays  and  creeks  of 
the  sea,  very  hilly,  covered  with  primeval  gum-tree  forest, 
and  joined  on  to  the  island  by  a  very  narrow  neck  of  sand. 
Port  Arthur,  where  are  the  prisons,  is  about  nine  miles  from 
Norfolk  Bay;  but  our  first  object  was  to  visit  the  neck, — 
called  Eagle  Hawk  Neck, — partly  for  the  sake  of  the 
scenery,  and  partly  because  the  neck  is  guarded  by  dogs, 
placed  there  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  convicts.  I  had 
heard  of  these  dogs  before  I  visited  Tasmania,  but  I  had 
thought  that  they  were  mythic.  There,  however,  I  found 
them,  to  the  number  of  fifteen,  chained  up  in  their  appointed 
places  at  and  near  the  neck.  The  intention  is  that  they 
should  bark  if  any  escaped  prisoner  should  endeavour  to 
swim  at  night  across  the  narrow  arm  of  sea  which  divides 
the  two  lands.  In  former  days  they  used  to  be  employed 
in  hunting  the  men  down.  I  doubt  whether  they  are  now 
of  any  service.  They  are  allowed  regular  rations,  one 
pound  of  meat  and  one  pound  of  flour  a  day  per  dog ;  and 
I  found  the  policemen  stationed  at  the  Neck  very  loud  in 
their  assurances  that  the  business  could  not  be  carried  on 
without  the  dogs.  The  policemen  also  have  rations, — some- 
what more  than  that  of  the  dogs,  though  of  the  same  kind; 

L 


146  TASMANIA. 

and  it  struck  me  that  to  the  married  men  who  have  families 
in  the  neighbourhood,  the  rationed  dogs  might  be  service- 
able. 

The  scenery  at  this  spot  is  very  lovely,  as  the  bright 
narrow  sea  runs  up  between  two  banks  which  are  wooded 
down  to  the  water.  Then  we  went  farther  on,  riding  our 
horses  where  it  was  practicable  to  ride,  and  visited  two 
wonders  of  the  place, — the  Blow-Hole,  and  Tasman's  Arch. 
The  Blow-Hole  is  such  a  passage  cut  out  by  the  sea  through 
the  rocks  as  I  have  known  more  than  one  on  the  west  coast 
of  Ireland  under  the  name  of  puffing-holes.  This  hole  did 
not  puff  nor  blow  when  I  was  there ;  but  we  were  enabled 
by  the  quiescence  of  the  sea  to  crawl  about  among  the 
rocks,  and  enjoyed  ourselves  more  than  we  should  have 
done  had  the  monster  been  in  full  play.  Tasman's  Arch,  a 
mile  farther  on,  is  certainly  the  grandest  piece  of  rock  con- 
struction I  ever  saw.  The  sea  has  made  its  way  in  through 
the  roclcs,  forming  a  large  pool  or  hole,  some  fifty  yards 
from  the  outer  cliffs,  the  descent  into  which  is  perpendicular 
all  round ;  and  over  the  aperture  stretches  an  immense 
natural  arch,  the  supports  or  side  pillars  of  which  are  per- 
pendicular. Very  few  even  now  visit  Tasman's  Arch  ;  but 
when  the  convict  establishment  at  Port  Arthur  comes  to  an 
end,  as  come  to  an  end  I  think  it  must,  no  one  will  ever  see 
the  place.  Nevertheless  it  is  well  worth  seeing,  as  may 
probably  be  said  of  many  glories  of  the  earth  which  are 
altogether  hidden  from  human  eyes. 

On  the  following  day  we  inspected  the  prisons,  and  poor- 
house  and  lunatic  asylum  and  farm  attached  to  the  prisons  ; 
■ — for  there  is  a  farm  of  well-cleared  land, — seventy  or  eighty 
acres  under  tillage,  if  I  remember  rightly;  and  there  is  a 
railway  for  bringing  down  timber  and  firewood.  The  whole 
was  in  admirable  order,  and  gave  at  first  sight  the  idea  of  an 
industrial  establishment  conducted  on  excellent  commercial 
principles.  The  men  made  their  own  shoes  and  clothes 
and  cheeses,  and  fed  their  own  pigs,  and  milked  their  own 
cows,  and  killed  their  own  beef  and  mutton.  There  seemed 
to  be  no  reason  why  they  should  not  sell  their  surplus  pro- 
duce and  turn  in  a  revenue  for  the  colony.     But  prisons 


PORT  ARTHUR.  14? 

never  do  turn  in  a  revenue,  and  this  certainly  was  no  excep- 
tion to  the  rule. 

I  found  that  there  were  altogether  506  persons,  all  males, 
to  be  looked  after,  and  that  no  less  than  97  men  were  em- 
ployed to  look  after  them.  Of  these  25  were  officers,  many 
of  whom  were  in  receipt  of  good  salaries.  There  was  the 
commandant,  and  the  Protestant  chaplain,  and  the  Roman 
Catholic  chaplain,  and  the  doctor,  and  the  doctor's  assistant, 
and  the  postmaster,  forming  with  their  wives  and  families 
quite  a  pleasant  little  society,  utterly  beyond  reach  of  the 
world,  but  supplied  with  every  comfort, — unless  when  the 
wind  was  so  bad  that  the  government  schooner  could  not 
get  round  to  them.  These  gentlemen  all  had  houses  too. 
I  was  hospitably  received  in  one,  that  of  the  commandant, 
which,  with  its  pretty  garden  and  boat-house,  and  outlook 
upon  the  land-locked  bay  of  the  sea,  made  me  wish  to  be 
commandant  myself.  There  would  have  been  nothing 
peculiar  in  all  this,  except  the  cleanness  and  prettiness  of 
the  place,  were  it  not  that  it  must  apparently  all  come 
to  an  end  in  a  few  years,  and  that  the  commandant's  house 
and  the  other  houses,  and  all  the  village,  and  the  prisons, 
and  the  asylum,  and  the  farm,  and  the  church,  will  be  left 
deserted,  and  allowed  to  fall  into  ruins.  I  do  not  know 
what  other  fate  can  be  theirs.  Tasmania  will  not  maintain 
the  place  for  her  own  prison  purposes  when  there  is  an  end 
of  the  English  money ; — and  for  other  than  prison  purposes 
no  one  will  surely  go  arid  live  in  that  ultima  Thule,  lovely 
as  are  the  bays  of  the  sea,  and  commodious  as  may  be 
the  buildings. 

Of  the  506  men  to  be  looked  after,  284  belonged  to 
England,  and  222  to  the  colony.  Of  the  506,  234  only 
were  efficient  for  work;  and  of  this  latter  number  only  39 
were  English  convicts.  It  will  be  understood  that  the 
lingering  English  remnants  of  transported  ruffianism  would 
by  this  time  consist  chiefly  of  old  men  unfit  for  work. 
There  were  146  English  paupers, — convicts  who  have  served 
their  time,  but  who  would  be  unable  to  support  themselves 
if  turned  out, — and  there  were  ten  invalids  who  would  return 
to  their  convict  work  when  well.      There  were  also   89 


148  TASMANIA. 

lunatics,  of  whom  only  four  were  still  under  sentence.  With 
506  men  to  be  looked  after,  97  officers  and  constables  to 
look  after  them,  and  with  only  234  men  able  to  do  a  day's 
work,  it  may  well  be  imagined  that  the  place  is  not  self- 
supporting.  Its  net  cost  is,  in  round  numbers,  ^20,000; 
of  which,  in  round  numbers  again,  England  pays  one-half 
and  the  colony  the  other.  It  was  admitted  that  when 
the  English  subsidy  was  withdrawn,- — for  in  fact  England 
does  pay  at  present  ^6,000  a  year  for  general  expenses 
over  and  above  her  contribution  per  man  to  the  establish- 
ment at  Port  Arthur, — that  when  this  should  be  discon- 
tinued, Port  Arthur  must  be  deserted. 

The  interest  of  such  an  establishment  as  this  of  course 
lies  very  much  in  the  personal  demeanour,  in  the  words, 
and  appearance  of  the  prisoners.  A  man  who  has  been  all 
his  life  fighting  against  law,  who  has  been  always  controlled 
but  never  tamed  by  law,  is  interesting,  though  inconvenient, 
— as  is  a  tiger.  There  were  some  dozen  or  fifteen  men, — 
perhaps  more, — whom  we  found  inhabiting  separate  cells, 
and  who  were  actually  imprisoned.  These  were  the  heroes 
of  the  place.  There  was  an  Irishman  with  one  eye,  named 
Doherty,  who  told  us  that  for  forty-two  years  he  had  never 
been  a  free  man  for  an  hour.  He  had  been  transported  for 
mutiny  when  hardly  more  than  a  boy, — for  he  had  enlisted 
as  a  boy, — and  had  since  that  time  received  nearly  3,000 
lashes  !  In  appearance  he  was  a  large  man  and  still  power- 
ful,— well  to  look  at  in  spite  of  his  eye,  lost  as  he  told  us 
through  the  misery  of  prison  life.  But  he  said  that  he  was 
broken  at  last.  If  they  would  only  treat  him  kindly,  he 
would  be  as  a  lamb.  But  within  the  last  i'ew  weeks  he 
had  escaped  with  three  others,  and  had  been  brought  back 
almost  starved  to  death.  The  record  of  his  prison  life  was 
frightful.  He  had  been  always  escaping,  always  rebelling, 
always  fighting  against  authority, — and  always  being  flogged. 
There  had  been  a  whole  life  of  torment  such  as  this  ;  forty- 
two  years  of  it ;  and  there  he  stood,  speaking  softly,  arguing 
his  case  well,  and  pleading  while  the  tears  ran  down  his 
face  for  some  kindness,  for  some  mercy  in  his  old  age.  "  I 
have  tried  to  escape ; — always  to  escape,"  he  said, — "  as  a 


PORT  ARTHUR.  149 

bird  does  out  of  a  cage.  Is  that  unnatural ; — is  that  a  great 
crime?"  The  man's  first  offence,  that  of  mutiny,  is  not  one 
at  which  the  mind  revolts.  I  did  feel  for  him,  and  when  he 
spoke  of  himself  as  a  caged  bird,  I  should  have  liked  to 
take  him  out  into  the  world,  and  have  given  him  a  month  of 
comfort.  He  would  probably,  however,  have  knocked  my 
brains  out  on  the  first  opportunity.  I  was  assured  that  he 
was  thoroughly  bad,  irredeemable,  not  to  be  reached  by  any 
kindness,  a  beast  of  prey,  whose  hand  was  against  every 
honest  man,  and  against  whom  it  was  necessary  that 
every  honest  man  should  raise  his  hand.  Yet  he  talked 
so  gently  and  so  well,  and  argued  his  own  case  with  such 
winning  words  !  He  was  writing  in  a  book  when  we  entered 
his  cell,  and  was  engaged  on  some  speculation  as  to  the 
tonnage  of  vessels.  "  Just  scribbling,  sir,"  he  said,  "  to 
while  away  the  hours." 

There  was  another  man,  also  an  Irishman,  named  Ahern, 
whose  appearance  was  as  revolting  as  that  of  Doherty  was 
prepossessing.  He  was  there  for  an  attempt  to  murder  his 
wife,  and  had  been  repeatedly  re-tried  and  re-convicted. 
He  was  making  shoes  when  we  saw  him,  and  had  latterly 
become  a  reformed  character.  But  for  years  his  life  had 
been  absolutely  the  life  of  a  caged  beast, — only  with  inci- 
dents more  bestial  than  those  of  any  beast.  His  gaolers 
seemed  to  have  no  trust  in  his  reformation.  He,  too,  was  a 
large  powerful  man,  and  he,  too,  will  probably  remain  till  he 
dies  either  in  solitary  confinement  or  under  closest  surveil- 
lance. In  absolute  infamy  he  was  considered  to  be  without 
a  peer  in  the  establishment.  But  he  talked  to  us  quite 
freely  about  his  little  accident  with  his  wife. 

There  was  another  remarkable  man  in  one  of  the  solitary 
cells,  whose  latter  crime  had  been  that  of  bringing  abomin- 
able and  false  accusations  against  fellow-prisoners.  He 
talked  for  awhile  with  us  on  the  ordinary  topics  of  the  day 
not  disagreeably,  expressing  opinions  somewhat  averse  to 
lonely  existence,  and  not  altogether  in  favour  of  the  im- 
partiality of  those  who  attended  upon  him.  But  he  gave  us 
to  understand  that,  though  he  was  quite  willing  to  answer 
questions  in  a  pleasant,  friendly  way,  it  was  his  intention 


ISO  TASMANIA. 

before  we  left  him  to  make  a  speech.  It  was  not  every  day 
that  he  had  such  an  audience  as  a  prime  minister  and  an 
attorney-general, — not  to  speak  of  a  solicitor-general  from 
another  colony  who  was  with  us  also,  or  of  the  commandant, 
or  of  myself.  He  made  his  speech, — and  I  must  here 
declare  that  all  the  prisoners  were  allowed  to  make  speeches 
if  they  pleased.  He  made  his  speech, — hitching  up  his 
parcel-yellow  trousers  with  his  left  hand  as  he  threw  out  his 
right  with  emphatic  gesture.  I  have  longed  for  such  ease 
and  such  fluency  when,  on  occasions,  I  have  been  called 
upon  to  deliver  myself  of  words  upon  my  legs.  It  was  his 
object  to  show  that  the  effort  of  his  life  had  been  to  improve 
the  morals  of  the  establishment,  and  that  the  commandant 
had  repressed  him,  actuated  solely  by  a  delight  in  wicked- 
ness. And  as  he  made  his  charge  he  pointed  to  the  com- 
mandant with  denouncing  fingers,  and  we  all  listened  with 
the  gravest  attention.  I  was  wondering  whether  he  thought 
that  he  made  any  impression.  I  forget  that  man's  name 
and  his  crime,  but  he  ought  to  have  been  a  republican  at 
home,  and  should  he  ever  get  out  from  Port  Arthur  might  still 
do  well  to  stand  for  a  borough  on  anti-monarchical  interests. 
But  of  all  the  men  the  most  singular  in  his  fate  was 
another  Irishman,  one  Barron,  who  lived  in  a  little  island 
all  alone  ;  and  of  all  the  modes  of  life  into  which  such  a  man 
might  fall,  surely  his  was  the  most  wonderful.  To  the 
extent  of  the  island  he  was  no  prisoner  at  all,  but  might 
wander  whither  he  liked,  might  go  to  bed  when  he  pleased, 
and  get  up  when  he  pleased,  might  bathe  and  catch  fish,  or  cul- 
tivate his  little  flower-garden, — and  was  in  very  truth  monarch 
of  all  he  surveyed.  Twice  a  week  his  rations  were  brought 
to  him,  and  in  his  disposal  of  them  no  one  interfered  with 
him.  But  he  surveyed  nothing  but  graves.  All  who  died 
at  Port  Arthur,  whether  convicts  or  free,  are  buried  there, 
and  he  has  the  task  of  burying  them.  He  digs  his  graves, 
not  fitfully  and  by  hurried  task-work,  but  with  thoughtful 
precision, — having  one  always  made  for  a  Roman  Catholic, 
and  one  for  a  Protestant  inmate.  In  this  regularity  he  was 
indeed  acting  against  orders, — as  there  was  some  prejudice 
against  these  ready-made  graves ;  but  he  went  on  with  his 


PORT  ARTHUR.  151 

work,  and  was  too  valuable  in  his  vocation  to  incur  serious 
interference.  We  talked  with  him  for  half  an  hour,  and 
found  him  to  be  a  sober,  thoughtful,  suspicious  man,  quite 
alive  to  the  material  inconveniences  of  his  position,  but  not 
in  the  least  afflicted  by  ghostly  fear  or  sensational  tremors. 
He  smiled  when  Ave  asked  whether  the  graves  awed  him, — 
but  he  shook  his  head  when  it  was  suggested  to  him  that  he 
might  grow  a  few  cabbages  for  his  own  use.  He  could  eat 
nothing  that  grew  from  such  soil.  The  flowers  were  very 
well,  but  a  garden  among  graves  was  no  garden  for  vege- 
tables. He  had  been  there  for  ten  years,  digging  all  the 
graves  in  absolute  solitude  without  being  ill  a  day.  I  asked 
him  whether  he  was  happy.  No,  he  was  not  happy.  He 
wanted  to  get  away  and  work  his  passage  to  America,  and 
begin  life  afresh,  though  he  was  sixty  years  old.  He  pre- 
ferred digging  graves  and  solitude  in  the  island,  to  the 
ordinary  life  of  Port  Arthur ;  he  desired  to  remain  in  the 
island  as  long  as  he  was  a  convict;  but  he  was  of  opinion 
that  ten  years  of  such  work  ought  to  have  earned  him  his 
freedom.  Why  he  was  retained  I  forget.  If  I  remember 
rightly,  there  had  been  no  charge  against  him  during  the 
ten  years.  "  You  have  no  troubles  here,"  I  said.  "  I  have 
great  troubles,"  he  replied,  "  when  I  walk  about,  thinking 
of  my  sins."  There  was  no  hypocrisy  about  him,  nor  did 
he  in  any  way  cringe  to  us.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  quiet, 
unobtrusive,  and  moody.  There  he  is  still,  living  among 
the  graves, — still  dreaming  of  some  future  career  in  life, 
when,  at  last,  they  who  have  power  over  him  shall  let  him  go. 
Of  the  able-bodied  men  the  greatest  number  are  at  work 
about  the  farm,  or  on  the  land,  or  cutting  timber,  and  seem 
to  be  subject  to  no  closer  surveillance  than  are  ordinary 
labourers.  There  is  nothing  to  prevent  their  escape, — 
except  the  fact  that  they  must  starve  in  the  bush  if  they 
do  escape.  There  is  plenty  of  room  for  them  to  starve  in 
the  bush  even  on  Tasman's  peninsula.  Then  when  they 
have  starved  till  they  can  starve  no  longer,  they  go  back  to 
the  damnable  torment  of  a  solitary  cell.  None  but  spirits 
so  indomitable  as  that  of  the  man  Doherty  will  dare  to  repeat 
the  agonies  of  escape  above  once  or  twice. 


152  TASMANIA. 

There  was  a  man  named  Fisher  dying  in  the  hospital, 
who  had  been  one  of  those  who  had  lately  escaped  with 
Doherty,  and  had,  indeed,  arranged  the  enterprise,  and  had 
gotten  together  the  materials  to  form  a  canoe  to  carry  them 
off.  Before  they  started  he  had  been  possessed  of  ;£io, 
which, — so  the  officers  said, — he  had  slowly  amassed  by 
selling  wines  and  spirits  which  he  had  collected  in  some 
skin  round  his  body,  such  wine  and  spirits  having  been 
administered  to  him  by  the  doctor's  orders,  and  having  been 
received  into  the  outer  skin  instead  of  taken  to  the  comfort 
of  the  inner  man.  This,  it  was  supposed,  he  had  sold  to 
the  constables  and  warders,  and  had  so  realised  £10.  Now 
he  was  dying, — and  looked,  indeed,  as  he  lay  on  his  bed, 
livid,  with  his  eyes  protruding  from  his  head,  as  though  he 
could  not  live  another  day.  But  it  was  known  that  he  still 
had  three  of  the  ten  sovereigns  about  him.  "  Why  not 
take  them  away?"  I  asked.  "They  are  in  his  mouth,  and 
he  would  swallow  them  if  he  were  touched."  Think  of  the 
man  living, — dying,  with  three  sovereigns  in  his  mouth, 
procured  in  such  a  way,  for  such  a  purpose,  over  so  long  a 
term  of  years  ; — for  the  man  must  have  been  long  an  invalid 
to  have  been  able  to  sell  for  ^10  the  wine  which  he  ought 
to  have  drunk  !  What  a  picture  of  life ; — what  a  picture  of 
death  ; — the  man  clinging  to  his  remnant  of  useless  wealth 
in  such  a  fashion  as  that ! 

In  the  evening  and  far  on  into  the  night  the  premier  was 
engaged  in  listening  to  the  complaints  of  convicts.  Any 
man  who  had  anything  to  say  was  allowed  to  say  it  into 
the  ears  of  the  first  minister  of  the  Crown, — but  all  of  course 
said  uselessly.  The  complaints  of  prisoners  against  their 
gaolers  can  hardly  be  efficacious.  So  our  visit  to  Port 
Arthur  came  to  an  end,  and  we  went  back  on  the  next  day 
to  Hobart  Town. 

The  establishment  itself  has  the  appearance  of  a  large, 
well-built,  clean  village,  with  various  factories,  breweries, 
and  the  like.  There  is  the  church,  as  I  have  said,  and 
there  are  houses  enough,  both  for  gentle  and  simple,  to 
take  away  the  appearance  of  a  prison.  The  lunatic  asylum  and 
that  for  paupers  have  no  appearance  of  prisons.    Indeed  the 


PORT  ARTHUR.  153 

penitentiary  itself,  where  the  working  convicts  sleep  and  live, 
and  have  their  library  and  their  plays  and  their  baths,  is  not 
prison-like.  There  is  a  long  street,  with  various  little  nooks 
and  corners,  as  are  to  be  found  in  all  villages, — and  in  one 
of  them  the  cottage  in  which  Smith  O'Brien  lived  as  a  convict. 
The  place  is  alive,  and  the  eye  soon  becomes  used  to  the 
strange  convict  garments,  consisting  of  jackets  and  trousers, 
of  which  one  side  is  yellow  and  the  other  brown.  If  it 
were  to  be  continued,  I  should  be  tempted  to  speak  loudly 
in  praise  of  the  management  of  the  establishment.  But  it 
is  doomed  to  go,  and,  as  such  is  the  case,  one  is  disposed 
to  doubt  the  use  of  increased  expenditure. 

All  those  whom  I  questioned  on  the  subject  in  Tasmania 
agreed  that  Port  Arthur  must  be  abandoned  in  a  few  years, 
and  that  then  the  remaining  convicts  must  be  removed  to 
the  neighbourhood  of  Hobart  Town.  If  this  be  done  there 
can  hardly,  I  think,  be  any  other  fate  for  the  buildings  than 
that  they  shall  stand  till  they  fall.  They  will  fall  into  the 
dust,  and  men.  will  make  unfrequent  excursions  to  visit  the 
strange  ruins. 


CHAPTER  III. 

HER    PRESENT    CONDITION. 

It  is  acknowledged  even  by  all  the  rival  colonies  that  of  all 
the  colonies  Tasmania  is  the  prettiest.  This  is  no  doubt 
true  of  her  as  a  whole,  though  the  scenery  of  the  Hawkesbury 
in  New  South  Wales  is,  I  think,  finer  than  anything  in 
Tasmania.  But  it  may  be  said  of  the  small  island  that,  go 
where  you  will,  the  landscape  that  meets  the  eye  is  pleasing, 
whereas  the  reverse  of  this  is  certainly  the  rule  on  the 
Australian  continent.  And  the  climate  of  Tasmania  is  by 
far  pleasanter  than  that  of  any  part  of  the  mainland.  There 
are,  one  may  almost  say,  no  musquitoes.  Other  pernicious 
animals  certainly  do  abound,  but  then  they  abound  also  in 
England.  Everything  in  Tasmania  is  more  English  than  is 
England  herself.  She  is  full  of  English  fruits,  which  grow 
certainly  more  plentifully  and,  as  regards  some,  with  greater 
excellence  than  they  do  in  England.  Tasmanian  cherries 
beat  those  of  Kent, — or,  as  I  believe,  of  all  the  world,- — and 
have  become  so  common  that  it  is  often  not  worth  the 
owner's  while  to  pull  them.  Strawberries,  raspberries, 
gooseberries,  plums,  and  apples  are  in  almost  equal  abun- 
dance. I  used  in  early  days  to  think  a  greengage  the  best 
fruit  in  the  world ; — but  latterly,  at  home,  greengages  have 
lost  their  flavour  for  me.  I  attributed  this  to  age  and  an 
altered  palate ;  but  in  Tasmania  I  found  the  greengages  as 
sweet  as  they  used  to  be  thirty  years  ago.  And  then  the 
mulberries  !  There  was  a  lady  in  Hobart  Town  who  sent 
us  mulberries  every  day  such  as  I  had  never  eaten  before, 
and  as, — I  feel  sure, — I  shall  never  eat  again.     Tasmania 


PRESENT  CONDITION.  155 

ought  to  make  jam  for  all  the  world,  and  would  do  so  for  all 
the  Australian  world  were  she  not  prevented  by  certain 
tariffs,  to  which  I  shall  have  to  allude  in  the  next  chapter. 
Now  the  Australian  world  is  essentially  a  jam-consuming 
world,  and  but  for  the  tariffs  Tasmania  could  afford  to  pick, 
and  would  make  a  profit  out  of,  the  cherries  and  raspberries. 
And  this  is  not  the  only  evil.  The  Victorians  eat  a  great 
deal  of  jam.  No  one  eats  more  jam  than  a  Victorian 
miner, — unless  it  be  a  Victorian  stock-rider.  But  they  eat 
pumpkin  jam  flavoured  with  strawberries, — and  call  that 
strawberry  jam.  The  effect  of  protection  all  the  world  over 
is  to  force  pumpkin  jam,  under  the  name  of  strawberry  jam, 
down  the  throats  of  the  people. 

The  Tasmanians  in  their  loyalty  are  almost  English-mad. 
The  very  regret  which  is  felt  for  the  loss  of  English  soldiers 
arises  chiefly  from  the  feeling  that  the  uniform  of  the  men 
was  especially  English.  There  is  with  them  all  a  love  of 
home,  which  word  always  means  England, — that  touches 
the  heart  of  him  who  comes  to  them  from  the  old  country. 
"  We  do  not  want  to  be  divided  from  you.  Though  we  did 
in  sort  set  up  for  ourselves,  and  though  we  do  keep  our  own 
house,  we  still  wish  to  be  thought  of  by  Great  Britain  as  a 
child  that  is  loved.  We  like  to  have  among  us  some  signs 
of  your  power,  some  emblem  of  your  greatness.  A  red  coat 
or  two  in  our  streets  would  remind  us  that  we  were  English- 
men in  a  way  that  would  please  us  well.  We  do  not  wish 
to  be  Americanised  in  our  ways  and  thoughts.  Well, — if 
we  cannot  have  a  red-coated  soldier  we  will  at  any  rate  have 
a  mail-guard  with  a  red  coat,  after  the  old  fashion,  and  a 
mail-coachman  with  a  red  coat,  and  a  real  mail-coach."  And 
they  have  the  mail-coach  running  through  from  Launceston 
to  Hobart  Town,  and  from  Hobart  Town  to  Launceston, 
not  in  the  least  like  a  Cobb's  coach,  as  they  are  in  the  other 
colonies,  but  built  directly  after  that  ancient  and  most 
uncomfortable  English  pattern  which  we  who  are  old 
remember; — and  they  have  the  coachman  and  the  guard 
clothed  in  red, — because  red  has  been  from  time  immemorial 
the  royal  livery  of  England. 

Launceston  is  a  clean,  well-built  town,  and  does  most  of 


156  TASMANIA. 

the  importing  and  exporting  business  of  the  island.  It  is 
on  the  north  side  of  the  island,  and  therefore  within  easy- 
reach  from  Melbourne,  with  which  port  most  of  the  business 
of  Tasmania  is  done,— exclusive  of  the  export  of  wool.  It 
has  no  look  of  decay,  in  spite  of  the  evil  things  that  are  said, 
and  at  any  rate  appears  to  prosper.  The  scenery  round 
Launceston  is  not  equal  to  that  at  Hobart  Town,  but  there 
are  one  or  two  very  pretty  walks, — noticeably  those  up  the 
hill  over  the  waterfall  whence  the  visitor  looks  down  upon  the 
South  Esk,  which  there  is  as  pretty  as  the  Lynn  at  Linton. 

An  English  farmer  hearing  of  land  giving  60  bushels  of 
oats  to  the  acre,  averaging  over  40  lbs.  the  bushel,  would 
imagine  that  the  owner  of  such  land  ought  to  do  well, — ■ 
especially  if  he  knew  that  the  same  crop  could  be  raised  on 
the  land  year  after  year.  But  yet  land  growing  such  crops 
will  not  give  a  rent,  or  even  a  profit,  to  the  combined  land- 
owner and  farmer  of  ioj.  an  acre.  The  corn  has  to  be  sent 
into  Launceston,  and  will  not  fetch  when  there  above  2s.  a 
bushel, — or  16s.  a  quarter.  Now  oats  in  England,  at  that 
weight,  range  I  believe  from  30J.  to  34^.  a  quarter.  With 
us  the  wages  of  rural  labourers  are  us.,  12s.,  or  14J.  a  week, 
according  to  the  county  or  district.  In  the  part  of  Tasmania 
of  which  I  am  speaking,  men  were  receiving  ^30  per  annum 
wages,  with  rations,  consisting  of  10  lbs.  of  meat,  10  lbs.  of 
flour,  2  lbs.  of  sugar,  and  J  lb.  of  tea  per  week,  worth  7s.  a 
week.  They  also  had  cottages  if  married,  or  house-room  if 
single, — and  some  extra  sums  of  money  were  given  to  them  at 
harvest  time, — ^3  or  £4, — to  secure  their  services.  This 
altogether,  would  be  worth  20s.  or  21s.  a  week; — whereas 
living  is  generally  cheaper  to  the  working  man  in  Tasmania 
than  in  England.  The  result  is  that  the  labourers  are  able 
to  pay,  and  as  a  rule  do  pay,  6d.  a  week  each  for  the  schooling 
of  their  children.  The  labourer  does  well, — but  the  farmer 
makes  but  a  poor  profit  out  of  his  tilled  land.  It  should  be 
explained  that  on  the  farms  which  I  visited,— and  which 
belonged  to  a  family  of  brothers,  cousins,  and  uncles, — 
everything  was  done  with  the  best  implements  brought  out 
from  England,  and  that  manure  was  used.  Hitherto  the 
use   of  manure   in   tillage  is   not  common  in  any  of  the 


PRESENT  CONDITION.  157 

colonies.  It  is  thought  to  be  more  profitable  to  take  what 
the  land  will  give  and  then  to  leave  it  for  awhile  than  to 
carry  manure  to  it.  Gradually,  however,  they  who  are  most 
deeply  concerned  in  agriculture  find  that  there  must  soon 
be  an  end  to  a  system  such  as  this.  In  the  district  of  which 
I  am  speaking  wheat  was  subject  to  rust,  which  is  the  great 
scourge  of  the  Australian  farmer.  The  price  of  wheat  in 
Launceston  was  4s.  3d.  to  4s.  6d.  a  bushel ;  but  my  friend 
told  me  that  it  would  pay  him  better  to  send  his  wheat  to 
London  than  to  sell  it  in  the  colony,  and  that  he  intended 
to  do  so. 

I  found  that  ordinary  day-labourers  throughout  the  colony 
were  getting  4-r.  a  day  without  rations,  or  on  an  average 
from  gs.  to  ioj.  a  week  with  rations  and  house  accommoda- 
tion. The  men  without  rations  would  of  course  be  employed 
with  less  certainty  of  duration  than  those  hired  as  permanent 
hands  with  rations.  Journeymen  carpenters,  masons,  plas- 
terers, wheelwrights,  and  the  like,  were  getting  6s.  6d.  a 
day;  domestic  men-servants  ^30  per  annum  with  board 
and  lodging,  and  female  servants  about  ^20.  I  found  also 
that  all  provisions  were  cheaper  than  in  England,  or  as 
cheap :  bacon  8d.  a  pound ;  butter  is.  to  is.  6d. ;  bread 
$$d.  the  2  lb.  loaf;  beer,  brewed  in  the  colony  and  very 
good,  2S.  the  gallon  ;  mutton  ^d.  a  pound  ;  beef  6d. ;  sugar 
4ld.  a  pound ;  coffee,  is.  2d. ;  tea  2s. ;  potatoes  ^3  a  ton. 
I  am  afraid  that  domestic  details  may  not  be  very  interesting 
to  general  readers,  but  they  may  serve  to  afford  to  some 
intending  emigrant  an  idea  of  the  fate  which  he  would  meet 
in  Tasmania. 

I  must  say  of  this  colony,  as  I  have  and  shall  say  of  all 
the  others,  that  it  is  a  paradise  for  a  working  man  as  com- 
pared with  England.  The  working  man  can  here  always 
eat  enough  food,  can  always  clothe  and  shelter  himself,  and 
can  also  educate  his  children.  His  diet  will  always  com- 
prise as  much  animal  food  as  he  can  consume, — and  if  he 
be  a  sober,  industrious  man  he  will  never  find  himself  long 
without  work.  Tasmania  is  no  doubt  at  present  not  popular 
with  the  young  Tasmanian  working  man,  because  the  search 
for  gold  has  not  hitherto  been  prosperous  in  Tasmania.    The 


IS8  TASMANIA. 

young  men  go  off  to  Victoria,  though  it  may  be  doubtful 
whether  they  improve  either  their  comfort  or  their  means  by 
the  journey.  A  miner  in  Victoria  will  earn  from  js.  to  8s.  a 
day ; — the  average  wages  were  js.  6d.  when  I  was  at  Sand- 
hurst ;  but  to  earn  that  a  man  must  be  a  miner.  He  must 
lose  time  in  going  in  quest  of  his  work,  and  cannot  always 
readily  find  it.  And  when  he  has  got  it,  and  has  learned  to 
be  a  miner,  and  is  in  receipt  of  45^.  a  week,  he  lives  hard  in 
order  that  he  may  gamble  in  gold  speculation  with  all  that 
he  can  save.  I  think  that  the  labourer  in  Tasmania  has  the 
best  of  the  bargain  :  but  the  desire  for  gold  is  so  strong,  and 
the  chances  of  fortunate  speculation  are  so  seductive,  that 
the  young  men  of  the  island  colony  are  gradually  drawn 
away. 

Of  males,  there  were  in  the  island  in  1870,  in  round 
numbers,  27,000  under  twenty  years  of  age; — only  10,800 
between  twenty  and  forty,  and  11,500  between  forty  and 
sixty.  These  figures  prove  that  the  male  population  has  by 
far  too  great  a  proportion  of  old  and  of  young  for  thorough 
well-being  and  a  wholesome  condition.  Of  females,  there 
were  25,000  under  twenty,  the  number  of  the  girls  as  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  boys  giving  one  evidence  among 
many  of  the  fact  that  the  male  progeny  in  Australia  is  more 
numerous  than  the  female,— a  rule  which  applies  to  horses, 
sheep,  and  cattle  as  well  as  to  the  human  race.  Between 
twenty  and  forty  there  were  12,000  women,  who  thus  beat 
the  men  during  that,  the  strongest,  period  of  life,  by  1,200; 
and  between  forty  and  sixty  there  were  only  7,000  women, 
sinking  below  the  number  of  men  for  the  same  period  by 
4,500.  What  becomes  of  the  old  women  in  Tasmania  I 
cannot  say.  Between  sixty  and  seventy  there  are  3,200 
men,  and  only  1,200  women.  I  cannot  suppose  that  after 
a  certain  time  of  life  the  Tasmanian  women  go  to  the  dig- 
gings. I  am  almost  disposed  to  think  that  the  statistical 
tables  of  the  colony  show  that  ladies  in  Tasmania  do  not 
give  correct  records  as  to  their  ages.  On  31st  December, 
1870, — and  I  have  no  information  corrected  up  to  a  later 
date,- — there  were  altogether  in  Tasmania  53,464  males  and 
47,301  females, — in  all  100,765.     Since  1870  the  increase 


PRESENT  CONDITION.  759 

has  been  very  slight.  In  1853,  when  transportation  from 
England  ceased,  the  population  was  75,000.  The  colony, 
therefore,  has  not  grown  as  have  the  other  Australian  colo- 
nies,— not  as  Queensland,  which  began  her  career  as  an 
independent  colony  in  1859  with  18,000  inhabitants,  and 
had  115,000  in  1870.  But  even  in  Tasmania  there  has  been 
a  steady  increase,  though  the  increase  during  the  last  few 
years  has  been  small. 

The  road  from  Launceston  to  Hobart  Town  is  as  good 
as  any  road  in  England,  and  is  in  appearance  exactly  like 
an  English  road.  It  was  made  throughout  by  convicts,  and 
was  manifestly  made  with  the  intention  of  being  as  like  an 
English  road  as  possible.  The  makers  of  it  have  perfectly 
succeeded.  When  it  passes  through  forest  land, — or  bush, — ■ 
the  English  traveller  would  imagine  that  there  was  a  fox 
covert  on  each  side  of  him.  There  are  hedges  too,  and  the 
fields  are  small.  And  there  are  hills  on  all  sides,  very  like 
the  Irish  hills  in  county  Cork.  Indeed  it  is  Ireland  rather 
than  England  to  which  Tasmania  may  be  compared.  And, 
as  I  have  said  before,  English, — or  Irish, — coaches  run 
upon  the  road ;  a  night  mail-coach,  with  driver  and  guard 
in  red  coats,  and  a  day  coach  with  all  appurtenances  after 
the  old  fashion.  I  found  their  pace  when  travelling  to  be 
about  nine  miles  an  hour.  We  went  by  the  mail-coach  as 
far  as  Campbelltown, — a  place  with  about  1,600  inhabitants, 
which  returns  a  member  to  parliament,  and  has  a  municipal 
council,  four  or  five  resident  clergymen,  a  hospital,  an  agri- 
cultural association,  and  a  cricket-club.  Quite  a  place  !— 
as  the  Americans  say.  When  I  asked  whether  it  was  pros- 
perous, my  local  friend  shook  his  head.  It  ought  to  be  the 
centre  of  a  flourishing  pastoral  district.  It  is  the  centre  of  a 
pastoral  district,  which  is  not  flourishing, — because  of  the 
rabbits.  This  wicked  little  prolific  brute,  introduced  from 
England  only  a  few  years  ago,  has  so  spread  himself  about, 
that  hardly  a  blade  of  grass  is  left  for  the  sheep  !  But  why 
not  exterminate  him,  or  at  least  keep  him  down  ?  I  asked 
the  question  with  thorough  confidence  that  the  energies  of 
man  need  not  succumb  to  the  energies  of  rabbits.  I  was 
told  that  the  matter  had  gone  too  far,  and  that  the  rabbit 


160  TASMANIA. 

had  established  his  dominion.  I  cannot,  however,  but 
imagine  that  the  rabbit  could  be  conquered  if  Tasmania 
would  really  put  her  shoulder  to  the  wheel. 

We  passed  a  place  called  Melton,  at  which  a  pack  of 
hounds  was  formerly  kept,  —  so  called  after  the  hunting 
metropolis  in  Leicestershire ;  and  as  I  looked  around  I 
thought  that  I  saw  a  country  well  adapted  for  running  a 
drag.  Foxes,  if  there  were  foxes,  would  all  be  away  into 
the  mountains.  They  used  to  hunt  stags,  but  I  should  have 
thought  that  the  stags  would  have  taken  to  the  hills.  But 
the  hunting  had  belonged  to  the  good  old  prosperous  con- 
vict days,  and  had  passed  away  with  other  Tasmanian 
glories.  At  Bridgewater,  within  ten  miles  of  Hobart  Town, 
there  is  a  magnificent  causeway  over  the  Derwent,  about  a 
mile  long,  which  was  of  course  built  by  convict  labour,  and 
which  never  would, — in  Tasmania  never  could — have  been 
made  without  it. 

Hobart  Town,  the  capital  of  the  colony,  has  about  20,000 
inhabitants,  and  is  as  pleasant  a  town  of  the  size  as  any 
that  I  know.  Nature  has  done  for  it  very  much  indeed,  and 
money  has  done  much  also.  It  is  beautifully  situated, — as 
regards  the  water, — placed  just  at  the  point  where  the  river 
becomes  sea.  It  has  quays  and  wharves,  at  which  vessels 
of  small  tonnage  can  lie,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  town. 
Vessels  of  any  tonnage  can  lie  a  mile  out  from  its  streets. 
It  is  surrounded  by  hills  and  mountains,  from  which  views 
can  be  had  which  would  make  the  fortune  of  any  district  in 
Europe.  Mount  Wellington,  nearly  5,000  feet  high,  is  just 
enough  of  a  mountain  to  give  excitement  to  ladies  and 
gentlemen  in  middle  life.  Mount  Nelson  is  less  lofty,  but 
perhaps  gives  the  finer  prospect  of  the  two.  And  the  air  of 
Hobart  Town  is  perfect  air.  I  was  there  in  February, — the 
height  of  summer, — having  chosen  to  go  to  Tasmania  at  that 
time  to  avoid  the  great  heat  of  the  continent.  I  found  the 
summer  weather  of  Hobart  Town  to  be  delicious.  And 
there  were  no  musquitoes  there.  I  have  said  something 
about  Australian  musquitoes  before.  They  were  not  so  bad 
as  I  had  expected ;  but  in  certain  places  they  had  been 
troublesome, — especially  at  Melbourne.  But  I  knew  nothing 


PRESENT  CONDITION.  161 

of  them  in  Hobart  Town.  Other  living  plagues  there  were 
plenty  in  Tasmania,  —  no  doubt  introduced,  as  were  the 
rabbits,  with  the  view  of  maintaining  the  general  likeness  to 
England.  All  fruits  which  are  not  tropical  grow  at  Hobart 
Town  and  in  the  neighbourhood  to  perfection.  Its  cherries 
and  mulberries  are  the  finest  I  ever  saw.  Its  strawberries, 
raspberries,  apples,  and  pears  are  at  any  rate  equal  to  the 
best  that  England  produces.  Grapes  ripen  in  the  open  air. 
Tasmania  ought  to  make  jam  for  all  the  world,  and  would 
make  jam  for  all  the  Australian  world,  were  it  not  for  Aus- 
tralian tariffs.  Tasmanian  jams  would  probably  come  to 
England  if  Tasmania  could  import  Queensland  sugar  free 
of  duty.  As  it  is,  fruit  is  so  plentiful  that  in  many  cases  it 
cannot  be  picked  from  the  trees.   It  will  not  pay  to  pick  it! 

So  much  in  regard  to  the  gifts  bestowed  by  nature  upon 
the  capital  of  Tasmania.  Art, — art  in  the  hands  of  con- 
victs,— has  made  it  a  pretty,  clean,  well-constructed  town, 
with  good  streets  and  handsome  buildings.  The  Govern- 
ment House  is,  I  believe,  acknowledged  to  be  the  best 
belonging  to  any  British  colony.  It  stands  about  a  mile 
from  the  town,  on  ground  sloping  down  to  the  Derwent, — 
which  is  here  an  arm  of  the  sea,  and  lacks  nothing  neces- 
sary for  a  perfect  English  residence.  The  public  offices, 
town-hall,  and  law  courts  are  all  excellent.  The  supreme 
court,  as  one  of  the  judges  took  care  to  tell  me,  is  larger 
than  our  Court  of  Queen's  Bench  at  Westminster.  The 
Houses  of  Parliament  are  appropriate  and  comfortable  with 
every  necessary  appliance.  They  are  not  pretentious,  nor 
can  I  say  that  the  building  devoted  to  them  is  handsome. 
There  is  a  Protestant  bishop  of  course,  and  a  cathedral, — 
which  a  stranger,  not  informed  on  the  subject,  would  mis- 
take for  an  old-fashioned  English  church  in  a  third  or  fourth 
rate  town.  I  was  told  that  it  is  tumbling  down  ;  but  a  very 
pretty  edifice  is  being  erected  close  by  its  side.  The  work 
is  still  unfinished  and  funds  are  needed.  Perhaps  a  generous 
reader  might  send  a  trifle. 

From  Hobart  Town  various  expeditions  may  be  made 
which  amply  repay  the  labour.  I  have  already  told  how  I 
went  to  Port  Arthur.     I  was  very  anxious  to  get  to  Lake 

M 


162  TASMANIA. 

St.  Clair,  but  did  not  succeed.  Lake  St.  Clair  is  nearly  in 
the  middle  of  the  island, — somewhat  towards  the  west,  or 
wilder  part  of  it, — in  County  Lincoln,  and  is,  I  was  informed, 
wonderfully  wild  and  beautiful.  It  was  described  to  me  as 
another  Killarney,  but  without  roads.  The  beauty,  too,  I 
was  told,  could  be  well  seen  only  from  a  boat,  and  there 
was  no  boat  then  on  the  lake.  I  found  that  I  could  not 
compass  it  without  devoting  more  time  than  I  had  to  spare, 
— and  I  did  not  see  Lake  St.  Clair.  I  went  up  the  Der- 
went  to  New  Norfolk  and  Fenton  Forest,  and  across  from 
Hobart  Town  to  the  Huon  River  and  a  township  called 
Franklin,  finding  the  scenery  everywhere  to  be  lovely.  The 
fern-tree  valleys  on  the  road  to  the  Huon  are  specially  so,— 
and  in  one  of  these  I  was  shown  the  biggest  tree  I  ever  saw. 
I  took  down  the  dimensions,  and  of  course  lost  the  note.  It 
was  quite  hollow,  and  six  or  seven  people  could  have  sat 
round  a  table  and  dined  within  it.  It  was  a  gum-tree,  bigger 
I  imagine  in  girth,  though  not  so  tall  as  that  which  I  de- 
scribed as  having  been  found  in  Victoria,  near  the  road  from 
Woods  Point  to  Melbourne.  The  River  Huon  is  a  dark, 
black,  broad  stream,  running  under  hanging  bushes, — 
very  silent  and  clear,  putting  me  in  mind  of  the  river  in 
Evangeline. 

On  the  Upper  Derwent,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  New 
Norfolk,  where  the  river  Plenty  joins  the  Derwent,  there  are 
the  so-called  Salmon  Ponds.  Now  these  salmon  ponds  are 
a  matter  of  intense  interest  in  Tasmania,  and  very  much 
skill  and  true  energy  have  been  expended, — and  no  slight 
amount  of  money  also, — in  efforts  to  introduce  our  river 
fish,  especially  the  trout  and  salmon,  into  Tasmanian  waters. 
In  reference  to  trout  the  success  has  been  perfect.  The 
quantity  in  the  rivers  is  already  sufficient  to  justify  the 
letting  of  fishing  licenses  at  20s.  a  year,  and  men  who  know 
how  to  fly-fish  can  get  excellent  sport.  I  have  seen  trout 
six  and  seven  pound  weight,  and  have  eaten  I  think  better 
trout  in  Tasmania  than  ever  I  did  in  England.  In  regard 
to  salmon  I  can  only  say  that  there  has  as  yet  been  no  suc- 
cess. No  one  has  as  yet  caught  a  Tasmanian  salmon,  though 
there  are  stories  about  of  salmon  having  been  seen.     The 


PRESENT  CONDITION.  163 

man  who  catches  the  first  salmon  will  be  entitled  to  ^30 
reward.* 

Mr.  Allport,  of  Hobart  Town,  a  gentleman  who  has 
taken  pains  with  the  subject,  and  who  thoroughly  under- 
stands it,  is  confident  of  success.  He  gave  me  reasons  to 
show  how  it  is  that  the  salmon  should  take  much  longer  than 
the  trout  to  establish  themselves,  and  to  prove  that  there 
was  as  yet  no  reason  for  a  faint  heart  on  this  great  matter. 
Mr.  Allport's  enthusiasm  was  catching,  and  I  found  myself 
ready  to  swear,  after  hearing  him,  that  there  must  be  salmon. 
Some  other  great  scientific  authority  has  declared, — thinks  I 
believe  that  he  has  proved, — that  it  is  impossible  that  there 
should  be  a  salmon  in  Tasmania.  It  is  a  great  question.  I 
myself,  in  my  ignorance,  lean  to  Mr.  Allport's  side  altogether, 
because  I  had  the  advantage  of  knowing  Mr.  Allport.  I 
was  only  told  of  the  adverse  great  authority.  But  the  trout 
are  a  fact.  I  ate  them  again  and  again,  with  great  satisfac- 
tion. I  do  not  doubt  that  before  long,  with  true  Australian 
fecundity,  they  will  sv  arm  in  Tasmanian  rivers. 

In  this  part  of  the  Island, — the  part  of  which  New  Norfolk 
is  the  centre,  about  twenty-four  miles  up  the  Denvent  from 
Hobart  Town, — hops  have  lately  been  introduced  with  suc- 
cess. They  grow  with .  great  luxuriance,  and  bear  heavily. 
It  is,  indeed,  hard  to  find  anything  that  will  not  flourish  in 
Tasmania, — except  wheat,  which  seems  in  the  Australian 
colonies  generally  to  be  of  all  crops  the  most  hazardous. 
Everywhere  one  hears  of  rust.  The  stalk  becomes  hard,  red, 
and  thick  under  the  influence  of  the  sun,  and  then  the  grain 
is  either  not  produced  at  all,  or  "is  a  withered,  shrivelled 
atom,  giving  no  flour.  Respecting  the  hops,  I  asked 
whether  that  at  any  rate  was  not  a  profitable  enterprise.  It 
would  be,  I  was  told,  but  for  the  damnable  Victorian  tariffs 
which  had  been  invented  with  the  primary  object  of  ruining 
Tasmania, — of  bringing  her  so  low  that,  to  escape  absolute 
ruin,  she  should  be  forced  to  annex  herself  to  her  big  and 
cruel  sister.  That  is  the  Tasmanian  creed,  and  it  is  one  not 
altogether  unfounded  on  facts.     It  must  be  understood  that 

*  Since  these  words  were  first  published  the  first  salmon  has,  I  am 
informed,  been  caught,  and  the  reward  given. 


i(J4  TASMANIA, 

Victoria  is  the  natural  market  for  Tasmanian  produce.  Set- 
ting wool  aside,  which  almost  as  a  matter  of  course  goes  to 
England,  and  which  constitutes  above  a  third  of  the  total 
exports  from  the  colony,  we  find  that  nearly  three-fourths  of 
its  surplus  produce  is  shipped  for  Victoria.  This  is  done  in 
the  teeth  of  the  terrible  Victorian  tariffs,  and  we  may  there- 
fore be  sure  that  the  proportion  would  be  much  greater,  and 
the  produce  sent  very  much  more  extensive,  if  the  Victorian 
markets  were  open.  Permission  to  sell  her  produce  in  Mel- 
bourne is  the  one  thing  necessary  to  ensure  prosperity  to  Tas- 
mania. This  refers  to  almost  everything  she  produces, —  to 
flour,  wheat,  oats,  barley,  fruit,  jam,  vegetables,  cheese,  butter, 
hides,  and  horses.  I  always  take  delight  in  reminding  a  Vic- 
torian,— who  is  a  jam-loving  creature, — that  he  is  obliged  to 
eat  pumpkin  jam,  a  filthy  mixture  just  flavoured  with  fruit, 
because  of  the  tariff  by  which  he  protects  the  fruit-grower  of 
Victoria, — who  after  all  can't  grow  fruit.  I  know  that  this 
will  bring  down  wrath  on  my  head,  because  fruit  is  grown  in 
Victoria, — very  fine  fruit,  which  I  have  seen  and  eaten.  And 
how  shall  I  be  believed  when  with  the  same  breath  I  warm 
my  fingers  and  cool  them ; — when  in  the  same  paragraph  I 
declare  that  the  fruit  is  grown  and  is  not  grown  ?  Money 
and  care  no  doubt  will  produce  fruit  in  Victoria ; — but  even 
Victorian  shearers  and  Victorian  miners  cannot  afford  to  eat 
jam  made  from  costly  fruits.  Over  in  Tasmania  fruit  is 
rotting, — fruit  as  fine  as  any  that  the  world  can  produce, — ■ 
because  it  is  thought  expedient  to  protect  the  Victorian 
raspberry.  Oh,  my  Victorian  friend,  deluging  your  unfor- 
tunate inwards  with  pumpkin  trash,  it  grieves  me  to  think 
that  the  madness  of  this  protection  will  not  make  itself 
apparent  to  you,  till  your  taste  will  have  been  polluted  and 
your  digestion  gone !  You  will,  I  fear,  never  live  to  learn 
what  comforts,  what  luxuries,  what  ample  bounties  the  rich 
world  will  give  to  him  who  will  go  out  freely  and  buy  what 
he  wants  in  the  cheap  markets  ; — or  how  great,  how  fiendish, 
how  unnatural  is  the  injury  done  by  him  who  won't  let 
others  go  out  and  buy  !  In  the  meanwhile  Tasmania  sits 
pining  because  she  cannot  sell  her  fruit, — cannot  sell  her 
hops. 


PRESENT   CONDITION.  165 

Wool  is  at  present  the  staple  of  this  colony, — as  of  all  the 
others.  But  pastoral  interests  do  not  prosper  here  as  they 
do  in  the  four  great  colonies  on  the  continent.  Although  com- 
paratively so  small  a  portion  of  the  land  has  been  bought  from 
the  Crown, — less  than  four  million  out  of  a  total  of  nearly 
seventeen  million  acres, — very  few  flocks  are  pastured  on  runs 
leased  from  the  Crown.  There  are  altogether  in  Tasmania 
1,350,000  sheep;  and  of  these  all  but  about  100,000  are 
pastured  on  purchased  lands.  In  1870  the  sum  derived  by 
the  colony  from  leases  was  only  ^7,210.  In  1853  it 
amounted  to  very  nearly  ^30,000.  No  doubt  this  has  been 
caused  by  the  sale  of  lands  which  had  before  been  let ;  but 
the  fact  shows  that  it  has  not  been  found  expedient  to  take 
up  new  lands  for  pastoral  purposes,  nor  is  it  worth  the  wool- 
grower's  while  to  do  so.  By  far  the  greatest  portion  of  the 
island  is  unfit  even  for  pastoral  purposes, — is  too  rough,  too 
inaccessible,  too  rocky,  and  too  heavily  timbered.  The 
grasses  used  for  wool  are  not  there,— or  if  there  cannot  be 
reached. 

I  must  not  misuse  the  colony  by  omitting  to  say  a  word 
of  her  gold-fields.  She  has  gold-fields, — especially  that  at 
Fingal.  I  believe  I  shall  hardly  be  wrong  in  saying  that 
there  is  no  other  to  which  it  is  necessary  to  call  special  atten- 
tion. But  even  on  the  Fingal  gold-digging,  very  much  has 
not  yet  been  done.  The  young  men  of  Tasmania  who  run 
to  gold-rushes  seek  their  fortunes  beyond  the  island.  Never- 
theless, gold  that  pays  has  been  found  in  the  north-eastern 
part  of  the  colony,  and  it  may  be  that  even  yet  Tasmanian 
rushes  will  come  into  fashion. 

The  form  of  government  in  Tasmania  is  very  much  the 
same  as  in  the  other  colonies.  There  is  a  "  Legislative 
Council "  or  Upper  House,  and  an  "  Assembly,"  which  is 
the  Lower  House.  The  governor  of  course  is  king,  and  is 
politically  irresponsible.  The  Council  is  elected,  and  goes 
out  by  rotation,  each  man  sitting  for  six  years.  The  As- 
sembly is  elected  for  three  years.  In  the  latter  manhood 
suffrage  is  the  rule, — it  being  necessary  that  a  man  should  be 
twenty-one  years  old,  and  have  resided  for  a  certain  number 
of  months  in  his  district.     For  the  Legislative  Council  there 


1 66  TASMANIA. 

is  a  property  qualification.  Votes  are  of  course  taken  by 
ballot.  The  chambers  were  not  sitting  when  I  was  in  Tas- 
mania, and  I  was  informed  that  they  do  not  sit  on  an 
average  above  two  months  in  the  year.  Legislation  in  the 
colony  is  undemonstrative  and  unexciting.  But  I  think  that 
a  quiet  common  sense  prevails  which  makes  it  unnecessary 
that  a  Tasmanian  should  blush  when  he  compares  the  legis- 
lative doings  in  his  parliament  with  the  work  of  any  other 
colony. 

It  strikes  an  Englishman  with  surprise  to  find  repeated  in 
so  smail  a  community  as  that  of  Tasmania  all  the  fashions 
of  government  with  which  he  has  been  familiar  at  home, 
but  which,  while  he  has  acknowledged  them  to  be  good  and 
serviceable  for  their  required  purposes,  he  has  felt  to  be 
complex  and  almost  confused, — and  which  he  has  known  to 
have  been  reached  not  by  concerted  plan,  but  by  happy 
accident,  or  rather  by  that  arranging  of  circumstances  which 
circumstances  effect  for  themselves,  when  the  intentions  of 
men  in  regard  to  them  are  honest  and  high-minded.  When 
a  ministry  at  home  is  in  a  minority  on  any  important  sub- 
ject,— any  subject  as  to  which  the  ministry  has  pledged 
itself, — the  ministers  resign  in  a  body,  and  the  Queen,  at 
the  advice  of  the  outgoing  premier,  sends  for  that  premier's 
chief  political  enemy.  If  that  enemy,  on  assuming  power, 
finds  that  the  majority  which  brought  him  there  will  not 
support  him  while  he  is  there,  he — goes  to  the  country.  A. 
new  House  of  Commons  is  elected,  and  as  that  House  may 
have  a  bias  this  way  or  that,  this  or  that  political  chieftain 
becomes  the  Queen's  adviser.  The  system  is  complex,  and 
very  difficult  to  be  understood  by  foreigners.  Even  Ameri- 
cans find  it  difficult  of  comprehension.  We  call  it  con- 
stitutional, but  it  is  written  nowhere.  There  is  no  law 
compelling  the  beaten  minister  to  resign.  There  is  no  law 
compelling  the  monarch  to  send  for  a  perhaps  unpalatable 
politician.  There  is  no  standard  by  which  the  importance 
of  measures  can  be  measured, — so  that  a  man  may  say,  On 
this  measure  a  beaten  minister  will  retire ;  but  in  regard  to 
that  measure  a  ministry,  though  beaten,  may  hold  its  ground. 
But  by  those  who  attend  to  politics  at  home  the  working  of 


PRESENT  CONDITION.  167 

the  thing  is  understood,  and  the  system  has  become  con- 
stitutional. No  minister  could  live  who  would  put  himself 
into  direct  opposition  to  it,  let  his  genius  and  statesmanship 
be  what  they  might.  Nor  could  any  sovereign  oppose  it, 
and  continue  to  be  a  sovereign  in  England.  The  system  is 
supported  by  no  law,  but  by  a  general  feeling  which  is 
stronger  than  all  laws, — and  that  general  feeling  of  what  is 
expedient  makes,  and  builds  up,  and  alters  from  time  to 
time  the  political  arrangement  of  public  matters  which 
we  call  our  constitution.  We  understand,  not  accurately 
indeed,  but  after  some  fashion,  this  slow  growth,  and  gra- 
dually self-arranging  political  machinery  among  ourselves  at 
home  who  are  an  old  people.  But  it  is  very  singular  that 
the  same  system  should  have  been  adopted  with  com- 
placency,— almost  without  thought, — by  our  democratic 
children.  The  Australian  colonies  claim  to  govern  them- 
selves in  everything,  to  make  what  laws  they  please,  to  have 
what  public  ministers  they  choose,  to  spend  what  money 
they  think  right, — to  be  bound  to  the  mother  country  only 
by  their  loyalty  to  the  Crown.  They  do  choose  their  own 
ministers,  and  give  them  what  name  they  like.  In  one 
colony  they  have  a  colonial  secretary,  in  another  a  chief 
secretary.  In  one  colony  it  is  reckoned  that  this  secretary 
must  be,  and  in  another  that  he  only  may  be,  the  head  of 
the  government.  One  colony  delights  to  call  its  minister 
the  premier,  another  taboos  the  name  altogether.  One 
colony  has  seven  cabinet  ministers,  another  six,  another 
five.  Tasmania  has  only  four,  one  of  whom  has  neither 
portfolio  nor  salary.  In  these  matters  they  independently 
make  their  own  arrangements.  But  the  system  under  which 
ministers  go  out  and  come  in,  dissolve  parliament,  and  live 
upon  majorities, — under  which  the  governor  is  advised  by 
the  retiring  chieftain  to  send  for  the  then  popular  rising 
star, — even  though  he,  the  governor,  should  think  the  then 
popular  rising  star  to  be  the  most  inefficient  and  dangerous 
man  in  the  colony, — is  the  exact  copy  of  our  political  con- 
stitutional system  at  home. 

The  revenue  in  Tasmania  amounts  to  about  ^220,000  a 
year,  and  the  expenditure  has  been  a  little  higher.     I  do 


1 68  TASMANIA. 

not  give  the  exact  sum,  because  the  figures  before  me  will 
be  an  old  story  before  this  is  published.  The  public  debt 
amounts  to  ^1,328,000,  which  includes  a  sum  of  ^400,000 
advanced  to  the  Launceston  and  Deloraine  Railway.  The 
taxation  only  just  exceeds  £2  a  head,  and  cannot  therefore 
be  regarded  as  heavy.  There  is  a  separate  land  fund, 
which  is  burdened  with  expenses  incident  to  the  land.  The 
amounts  received  for  sale  and  leases  of  crown  lands  are 
expended  on  the  land  or  on  public  works,  so  that  no  abso- 
lute revenue  is  thus  received. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FUTURE     PROSPECTS. 

That  Tasmania  is  going  gradually  to  the  mischief  seems  to 
be  the  fixed  opinion  of  Tasmanian  politicians  generally. 
That  such  a  belief  as  to  one's  country  should  not  be  accom- 
panied by  any  personal  act  evincing  despair,  has  been  the 
case  in  all  national  panics.  English  country  gentlemen 
have  very  often  been  sure  of  England's  ruin ;  but  I  have 
never  heard  of  the  country  gentleman  who,  in  consequence 
of  his  belief,  sold  his  estate  and  went  to  live  elsewhere. 
Speculative  creeds  either  in  politics  or  religion  seldom  prove 
their  sincerity  by  altered  conduct.  Modern  prophets  have 
more  than  once  or  twice  named  some  quick-coming  date 
on  which  the  world  would  end ;  but  the  prophets  have 
made  their  investments  and  taken  their  leases  seemingly  in 
anticipation  of  a  long  course  of  future  years.  So  it  is  in 
Tasmania.  Even  they  who  are  most  unhappy  as  to  the 
state  of  things  live  on  comfortably  amidst  the  approaching 
ruin.  What  the  stranger  sees  of  life  in  the  island  is  very 
comfortable.  The  houses  are  well  built,  and  are  kept  in 
good  order.  The  public  offices  are  clean,  spacious,  and 
commodious.  The  public  garden  is  large,  and,  for  so  small 
a  place,  well  kept  and  handsome.  The  inns  are  fairly  good, 
as  also  are  the  shops.  I  here  speak  both  of  Hobart  Town 
and  Launceston,  the  only  two  towns  in  the  colony.  Hobart 
Town  in  round  numbers  has  20,000  inhabitants,  and  Laun- 
ceston 1  [,000.  But  they  have  the  appearance  of  large  and 
thriving  cities  much  more  than  have  towns  with  a.  similar 
population  in  England.     Nevertheless,  the  Tasmanians  ac- 


1 70  TASMANIA. 

knowledge  it  to  be  the  fact  that  Tasmania  is  going  to  the 
mischief. 

_  The  loudest  grumblers  declare  that  the  ruin  is  to  be  found 
rifest  in  the  rural  districts,  among  the  country  folk  and  poor 
people.  Hobart  Town,  they  say,  is  kept  alive  by  visitors 
who  flock  to  it  for  the  summer  months  from  the  other 
colonies  ;  and  Launceston  has  whatever  relics  of  prosperous 
trade  the  island  still  possesses.  The  people  in  the  rural 
districts,  they  say,  are  generally  so  poor  that  they  can  with 
difficulty  live.  I  have,  however,  already  stated  how  infi- 
nitely superior  is  the  condition  of  the  Tasmanian  labourer 
to  that  of  his  brother  at  home  in  England. 

No  doubt,  however,  there  are  grounds  for  grumbling ;  or 
it  might  be  more  just  to  say  that  there  is  cause  for  appre- 
hension. Though  Tasmania  is  as  yet  only  seventy  years 
old,  as  a  country  inhabited  by  white  men,  and,  being  still 
in  its  early  youth,  it  should  be  yearly  laying  up  new  blood 
and  new  bone  in  the  shape  of  increased  population.  It  is 
not  doing  so.  For  some  years  past  there  has  been  no 
increase  of  which  the  colony  can  boast.  During  four  years, 
from  1866  to  1870,  the  total  increase  was  403.  As  340 
emigrants,  chiefly  German,  were  brought  into  the  colony  in 
1870  by  a  system  of  bounties, — a  number  so  small  as  to 
show  that  the  effort  was  a  failure, — it  must  be  acknowledged 
that  those  immediate  attractions  which  give  increased  popu- 
lation to  a  young  colony  have  departed  from  it.  And  the 
grumblers  are  justified  also  by  the  condition  of  trade  gene- 
rally. In  1 86 1  the  eight  chief  articles  exported  from  Tas- 
mania were  as  follows  : — 


^■326,000 

82,000 

81,000 

Sperm  oil                .         . 

•         •         • 

59,000 

Timber           .                  . 

•         • 

55.°°° 

Fruit  (including  jams)    . 

.                  .         • 

50,000 

Horses 

•         •         • 

42,000 

Flour    „«,„,, 

•         •         • 

39,000 

4-734,000 


FUTURE  PROSPECTS.  171 

In  1870  the  amounts  were  altered  as  follows : — 


Wool 

Wheat 

Oats 

Sperm  oil       . 

Timber 

Fruit  (including  jams) 

Horses 

Flour     .         . 


,£246,000 
15,000 
56,000 
33,000 
37,000 
84,000 
5,000 
11,000 

£487,000 


These  figures  show  a  decrease  in  every  article  except 
fruit;  a  total  decrease  of  ^247,000, — or,  in  round  numbers, 
about  one-third, — and  a  decrease  of  ^120,000  in  corn  and 
flour  alone.  No  doubt  for  so  small  a  community  such  a 
falling  off  is  very  serious,  and  justifies  apprehensions.  Such 
a  diminution  in  the  supply  of  wheat  would  lead  to  the  fear 
that  the  colony  would  soon  fail  to  feed  itself  with  flour  and 
grain,  did  not  we  know  that  the  exportation  of  these  articles 
from  Tasmania  had  been  stopped  by  the  Victorian  tariffs. 
As  long  as  Victoria  charges  gd.  a  hundredweight  on  the 
importation  of  all  grain,  Tasmania  will  be  shut  out  from  the 
market  which  is  nearest  to  her,— indeed,  from  the  only 
foreign  market  to  which  she  has  hitherto  been  able  to  sell 
her  produce  other  than  wool. 

In  regard  to  wool,  which  is  still  the  staple  of  the  colony, 
and  as  to  which  the  above  figures  show  the  greatest  decrease, 
the  circumstances  admit  of  a  certain  amount  of  explanation. 
The  weight  of  the  wool  exported  in  1870  was  as  great  as 
that  produced  in  1861, — indeed,  something  greater;  and 
the  fall  in  the  figures  is  due  to  the  depreciation  in  value, — 
which,  as  all  persons  interested  in  the  Australian  colonies 
are  aware,  has  again  risen  very  greatly  since  the  crop  of 
1870  was  sold.  And,  again,  the  time  of  shearing,  which 
varies  according  to  circumstances  of  the  year,  threw  over  a 
portion  of  the  wool  of  1870  to  the  sales  of  1871.  It  appears 
that  in  1868  the  amount  of  Tasmanian  wool  sold  was 
6,136,426  lbs.;  in  1869,  5,607,083  lbs. ;  and  in  1870,  only 
4,146,913  lbs.    The  great  difference  apparent  between  1868 


1 72  TASMANIA. 

and  1870  was  caused  by  the  later  shearing  of  the  latter  year, 
and  therefore  does  not  show,  as  it  might  seem  to  do,  any 
serious  decay  in  the  pastoral  interest  of  the  colony. 

In  respect  to  the  other  articles  enumerated, — -especially 
in  regard  to  cereal  produce, — there  is  evidence  of  decay 
where  especially  there  should  be  increasing  life ;  and  it  is  of 
extreme  importance  that  they  who  are  interested  not  only  in 
this  colony,  but  in  the  Australian  colonies  generally,  should 
inquire  and  understand  how  it  has  come  to  pass  that  in  a 
land  so  gifted  as  Tasmania, — in  a  land  more  fitted  by  climate 
for  English  emigrants  than,  I  believe,  any  other  on  the  face 
of  the  earth, — in  a  land  that  might  flow  with  milk  and 
honey,  in  a  country  possessing  harbours,  rivers,  and  roads, — 
things  should  already  be  going  from  bad  to  worse,  instead 
of  from  good  to  better.  The  convict  system  no  doubt 
brought  with  it  much  of  evil  for  which  it  must  answer, — as 
also  many  advantages  with  which  it  should  be  credited. 
The  profuse  expenditure  of  government  money,  and  the  use 
of  what  may  be  called  slave  labour,  no  doubt  had  a  tend- 
ency to  paralyze  the  energies  of  the  settlers.  The  condition 
produced  was  unwholesome,  and  such  unwholesomeness 
clings  long.  But  the  Tasmanians  themselves  understood 
this,  and  got  rid  of  the  thing.  The  convict  flavour  is  quickly 
passing  away  from  them ;  and  though  a  certain  lack  of 
vitality  among  some  classes  may  still  be  due  to  the  condition 
of  a  convict  settlement  as  I  have  endeavoured  to  describe 
it,  Tasmania  will  gradually  throw  off  that  disease  as  New 
South  Wales  has  already  done.  But  there  are  other  diseases 
which  she  cannot  throw  off, — or  rather  there  is  another 
cause  for  disease  of  which  she  cannot  rid  herself, — as  long 
as  the  existing  unnatural  position  of  the  Australasian  colo- 
nies towards  each  other  in  regard  to  commerce  remains 
unaltered.  I  will  state  here  the  populations  of  the  colonies 
roughly : — 

Victoria  has 750,000  souls. 

New  South  Wales 500,000     „ 

South  Australia  ....  185,000     ,, 

Queensland  .  .         .  120,000      ,, 

Tasmania  ,,,,,«  ioo,ooq     s, 


FUTURE  PROSPECTS.  173 

Western  Australia  ....  25,000  souls. 

New  Zealand  250,000     „ 

Putting  aside  New  Zealand, — which,  however,  is  quite  as 
much  interested  in  the  matter  as  the  others, — we  find  that 
they  are  like  so  many  English  counties,  or,  as  the  area  is 
very  large,  like  so  many  American  states,  contiguous  to  each 
other,  speaking  the  same  language,  having  the  same  or 
similar  interests,  connected  in  and  out  by  joint  properties, 
joint  families,  and  joint  names,  attached  to  the  same  mother 
country,  having  nothing  but  a  name  to  mark  their  borders. 
There  is  indeed  no  such  dissimilarity  of  interests  as  between 
Lancashire  and  Wiltshire,  for  wool  is  the  staple  produce  of 
each  of  them.  There  is  no  such  cause  of  disruption  as 
between  the  Southern  and  Northern  States  of  America, — • 
no  dissimilarity  of  character  as  between  the  Eastern  and 
Western  States.  They  are  at  least  as  much  one  people  as  are 
the  inhabitants  of  the  dominion  of  Canada.  They  are  much 
more  one  people  than  were  the  various  German  nationalities 
who  had  found  it  to  be  impossible  not  to  bind  themselves 
together  by  a  customs  union,  even  before  Prussia  had  bound 
them  together  politically.  They  are  all  English ; — and  not 
a  law  can  be  passed  by  them  without  the  assent  of  an  Eng- 
lish minister  or  his  deputy.  And  yet  they  levy  customs  duties 
among  each  other  as  do  the  various  nations  of  Europe ; — or 
rather  as  did  the  various  nations  of  Europe  before  the  prin- 
ciple of  free-trade  had  been  efficacious  in  liberating  a  single 
branch  of  commerce. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  here  to  discuss  free  trade,  or  to 
attempt  to  prove  its  beneficent  action.  I  am  content  in 
my  humble  way  to  point  out  that  people  who  reject  free 
trade  must  be  content  to  eat  pumpkin  mixture  and  call  it 
strawberry  jam.  Those  of  my  readers  who  are  still  in 
favour  of  protecting  home  industry  by  duties  on  imported 
goods  will  not  be  converted  by  me.  In  regard  to  the  great 
majority  of  my  countrymen  I  may  take  it  for  granted  that 
on  this  matter  we  are  of  one  opinion.  The  question  here 
is  not  one  of  free  trade ;— but  of  free  trade  between  the 
Australian  colonies,  which  may  be  accompanied  by  any 
amount  of  protection  by  them  all  against  the  outside  world. 


174  TASMANIA. 

It  is  as  though  we  should  have  discussed  the  expediency  of 
border  customs  between  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  at  a  time 
in  which  we  levied  duties  on  silks  from  France  and  Italy. 
There  was  a  question  among  us  then, — a  much-vexed  ques- 
tion,— as  to  the  imposition  of  duties  on  foreign  articles  ;  but 
no  man  would  have  been  listened  to  for  a  moment  who 
would  have  proposed  border  customs  between  our  counties 
at  home.  Such  a  man  would  have  been  simply  insane. 
The  man  who  should  do  so  in  America  with  regard  to  the 
different  states  would  be  equally  so.  The  German  Zollverein 
showed  what  was  the  feeling  of  Germany  generally  in  the 
matter.  But  the  Australian  colonies  still  act  against  each 
other  as  though  they  were  separate  nations. 

And  they  are  forbidden  by  the  English  law  as  it  at  pre- 
sent stands  to  do  otherwise, — though  the  English  govern- 
ment has  more  than  once  offered  to  the  colonies  its  sanction 
for  the  abolition  of  the  absurdity  in  the  gross.  As  the  law 
stands  at  present  any  British  colony,  and  therefore  any  one 
of  the  Australias,  may  levy  what  taxes  and  what  customs 
duties  it  thinks  fit  to  levy ;  but  it  cannot  levy  differential 
duties.  New  South  Wales  for  instance  may  put  what  duty 
it  shall  please  on  sugar ; — but  it  cannot  receive  Queensland 
sugar  free  of  duty  and  charge  a  duty  on  sugar  from  the 
Mauritius  or  from  Cuba.  And  yet  there  is  no  more  than  a 
nominal  border-line  between  the  two  colonies,  the  two 
places  being  as  closely  joined  as  any  two  English  counties. 
Victoria  may  receive  wheat  free  from  all  the  world ;  but  she 
cannot  receive  wheat  free  from  South  Australia,  with  which 
she  borders  as  Yorkshire  does  with  Lancashire,  unless  she 
receive  it  free  also  from  all  the  world.  The  law  has  been  so 
fixed  in  order  that  no  dependency  of  Great  Britain  should 
be  able  to  sin  against  that  free-trade  policy  by  which  Eng- 
land professes  to  regulate  her  dealings  with  foreign  countries. 
Differential  duties  may,  no  doubt,  be  levied  with  the  express 
view  of  injuring  the  trade  of  an  especial  country;  and  if 
England  binds  herself  not  to  commit  the  injury,  it  is  intel- 
ligible that  she  should  bind  her  dependent  colonies  to  the 
same  extent. 

But  England  has  in  point  of  fact  abandoned  the  principle 


FUTURE  PROSPECTS.  17s 

in  regard  to  intercolonial  trade ; — not  because  it  is  felt  that 
the  principle  is  not  as  applicable  to  the  colonies  as  to  Eng- 
land, but  on  the  conviction  that  Australia  in  regard  to  trade 
must  and  should  be  regarded  as  one  whole, — as  is  the 
Canadian  dominion,  as  are  the  United  States,  as  were  the 
German  kingdoms  when  Germany  was  politically  divided. 
A  reference  to  the  population  of  the  colonies,  to  their 
geographical  position  and  affinities,  to  their  joint  interests, 
to  their  real  oneness  as  a  people,  convinces  the  merest  tyro 
in  political  economy  of  the  absurdity  of  border  duties  be- 
tween them, — almost  equally  of  the  absurdity  of  duties  levied 
from  port  to  port.  On  the  15th  July,  1870,  the  Secretary 
of  State  for  the  Colonies  wrote  the  following  circular  to  the 
different  Australian  governors  : — 

"  Sir, — I  think  it  important  to  ensure  that  the  governors  of  the 
Australian  colonies  should  not  misunderstand  the  views  of  Her  Majesty's 
government  with  regard  to  intercolonial  free  trade. 

"The  different  colonies  of  Australia  are  at  present,  in  respect  of 
their  customs  duties,  in  the  position  of  separate  and  independent 
countries.  So  long  as  they  remain  in  that  relation,  a  law  which 
authorised  the  importation  of  goods  from  one  colony  to  another  on 
any  other  terms  than  those  applicable  to  the  imports  from  any  foreign 
country  would  be  open,  in  the  view  of  Pier  Majesty's  government,  to 
the  objection  of  principle  which  attaches  to  differential  duties. 

"But  Her  Majesty's  government  would  not  object  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  complete  customs  union  between  the  Australian  colonies, 
whether  embracing  two  or  more  contiguous  colonies,  or,' — which  would 
be  preferable, — the  whole  Australian  continent  with  its  adjacent  islands. 
If  any  negotiations  should  be  set  on  foot  with  this  object  you  are  at 
liberty  to  give  them  your  cordial  support. 

(Signed)     *' Kimberley." 

I  cannot  think  that  any  one  will  read  this  without  agree- 
ing with  Lord  Kimberley,  though  probably  most  who  do  so 
would  express  their  agreement  in  stronger  terms,  as  to  the 
present  condition  of  Australian  customs  duties  than  it  would 
suit  a  Secretary  of  State  to  use.  But  this  proposition  on 
the  part  of  Lord  Kimberley  altogether  abandons  the  ques- 
tion as  to  differential  duties  between  the  colonies.  If  there 
were  an  Australian  customs  union  New  South  Wales  would 
get  Queensland  sugar  free  of  duty,  but  might  still  charge 
what   duty  it  pleased  on   Cuban  sugar.     Victoria  would 


176  TASMANIA. 

import  free  wine  from  New  South  Wales, — which  she  does 
largely, — and  free  wine  from  South  Australia,  and  free  hops 
from  Tasmania ;  but  would  still  put  what  duties  she  pleased 
on  French  wines,  and  Chilian  wheat,  and  English  hops. 
And  this  permission  would  be  given,  not  because  English 
statesmen  have  gone  back  in  their  opinion  about  differential 
duties, — but  because  the  maintenance  of  hostile  trade  in- 
terests between  communities  so  bound  together  as  are  these 
colonies  is  a  worse  evil  than  the  semblance  of  differential 
duties  which  would  thus  be  allowed  to  exist. 

But  the  colonies  are  not  ready  for  a  customs  union.  Three 
of  them,  Tasmania,  South  Australia,  and  New  Zealand,  have 
expressed  a  general  concurrence ; — others  a  qualified  con- 
currence. Victoria  is  the  greatest  sinner  in  the  matter, — 
being  for  the  time  wedded  to  protection  in  all  its  deformity. 
In  the  meantime  permission  has  been  asked  by  certain  of 
the  colonies, — and  notably  by  Tasmania,  on  whose  behalf 
the  matter  has  been  argued  with  great  vigour  by  her  minister, 
Mr.  Wilson, — that  they  should  be  allowed  to  arrange  their 
intercolonial  customs  without  reference  to  the  duties  charged 
on  extra-colonial  articles, — and  that  they  should  be  permitted 
to  do  this,  as  a  measure  paving  the  way  to  a  customs  union. 
This  permission  has  been  refused  them,  and  I  must  acknow- 
ledge that  in  the  correspondence  which  has  taken  place  on 
the  subject  I  think  that  the  Tasmanian  statesman  gets  the 
better  of  Downing  Street.  I  give  in  an  Appendix,  No.  3, — - 
as  they  are  too  long  for  insertion  in  the  text, — Lord  Kim- 
berley's  circular  dispatch  on  the  subject,  dated  13th  July, 
1 87 1  ;  and  Mr.  Wilson's  memorandum  in  answer  to  it. 

We  cannot  prevent  the  colonists  from  entertaining  pro- 
tectionist principles, — cannot  go  back  to  a  condition  of 
things  which  would  enable  the  mother  country  to  dictate  to 
the  colonies  on  the  subject.  Universal  suffrage  undoubtedly 
assists  protection.  The  fabricator  of  any  article  sees  that  a 
•tax  on  that  article  when  imported  will  force  the  world  around 
him  to  use  the  article  home-made,  and  that  then  his  peculiar 
labour  will  be  fostered  and  protected.  If  foreign  boots  be 
made  dear  by  a  tax,  the  local  bootmaker  can  get  5.5-.  a  pair 
for  making  boots;  but  if  foreign  boots  be  sold  cheap,  he 


FUTURE  PROSPECTS.  177 

cannot  get  above  3J.  6d.  The  Victorian  farmer, — a  very 
small  man  usually, — thinks  that  he  cannot  grow  wheat  and 
live  if  wheat  from  Adelaide  be  admitted  to  the  markets  on 
the  same  terms  as  his  own  wheat.  Men  learn  so  much 
quickly.  The  lesson  is  acquired  on  the  first  aspect  of  the 
matter.  The  consequent  evil  results  to  these  shallow  pupils 
in  having  to  pay  double  for  goods  which  they  consume  and 
do  not  produce,  requires  a  deeper  insight  into  matters,  and 
an  insight  accompanied  by  some  calculation,  before  it  pro- 
duces a  conviction.  At  home,  in  England,  the  working 
man  is  certainly  not  superior  in  intelligence  to  his  Australian 
brother,  but  he  is  subjected  in  his  political  instincts  and 
inquiries  to  higher  and,  I  must  say,  to  more  honest  influ- 
ences. I  cannot  bring  myself  to  believe  that  he  is  generally 
made  to  understand  great  political  truths,  but  he  is  made  to 
believe  that  this  or  that  politician  is  a  safe  political  guide, 
and  he  votes  accordingly.  And  on  one  subject,  which  is  to 
him  of  all  the  most  important, — the  subject  of  food, — he 
has  been  made  to  understand  that  free  trade  means  a  cheap 
loaf.  In  Australia  food  is  plentiful,  and  the  labourer  feels  com- 
paratively little  solicitude  on  this  subject.  Each  man  wishes 
to  protect  from  competition  that  which  he  himself  makes. 
The  Victorian,  in  his  wisdom,  desires  to  give  nothing  out 
of  his  store  to  any  fellow-labourer  from  South  Australia  or 
from  Tasmania ; — "at  any  rate  to  give  as  little  as  possible. 
He  therefore  is  a  protectionist  ; — and  the  would-be  minister 
of  the  day  is  a  protectionist  because  he  wants  the  labourer's 
vote. 

It  is  thus  that  protection  has  become  rife,  and  we  cannot 
cure  the  evil  suddenly  by  any  order  to  be  given,  or  by  any 
permission  to  be  refused.  The  ordinary  educated  traveller 
in  the  colonies, — getting  into  the  society  which  will  fall 
naturally  in  his  way,- — will  find  that  almost  every  person  he 
meets  is  opposed  to  protection.  But  everybody  will  tell  him 
at  the  same  time  that  protection  cannot  be  abolished.  The 
voters  like  it,  and  the  voters  are  omnipotent.  There  is  a 
variation  in  the  feeling  in  the  various  colonies  ; — but  this  is 
the  general  state  of  the  colonial  mind  on  the  subject.  If  it 
be  so,  it  should,  I  think,  be  the  object  of  governments  at 

N 


1 78  TASMANIA. 

home  to  develop  as  far  as  possible  all  operations  which  will 
tend  in  the  first  place  to  create  intercolonial  free  trade. 
The  existing  state  of  things  has  the  double  evil, — the  first 
natural  evil  of  impeding  trade  and  of  impoverishing  every- 
body concerned ;  and  the  further  evil  of  fostering  rivalries 
and  hostilities  between  people  who  are  in  fact  one  and  the 
same.  That  a  general  customs  union  would,  of  all  steps  in 
the  right  direction,  be  the  greatest  and  the  wisest  there  can 
hardly  be  a  doubt.  To  me  it  seems  to  be  almost  equally 
clear  that  any  measure  tending  to  abolish  customs  duties 
between  the  colonies  would  be  a  step  towards  a  customs 
union.  Let  New  South  Wales  be  enabled  to  take  free  sugar 
from  Queensland,  and  Queensland  will  take  fruit  on  the 
same  terms  from  New  South  Wales.  The  condition  of  the 
colonies  makes  it  obvious  that  there  should  be  no  customs 
levied  between  them. 

Poor  little  Tasmania  is  straining  every  nerve  to  obtain  the 
privilege  of  sending  her  produce  for  the  consumption  of  her 
sister  colonies,  especially  of  Victoria,  without  which  privilege 
she  cannot  continue  to  exist.  The  value  of  the  exports 
from  any  country  are,  or  should  be,  but  small  in  comparison 
with  the  value  of  the  produce  consumed  at  home ; — but  the 
smaller  the  country  is,  the  more  certain  is  the  ruin  entailed 
upon  it  by  prohibition  from  selling  its  goods  in  an  outside 
market. 

Its  condition  becomes  such  as  that  would  be  of  a  small 
wheat-growing  English  county  debarred  from  selling  its 
wheat  beyond  its  own  confines.  The  richness  of  its  own 
produce  would  become  its  own  greatest  burden.  Industry 
and  energy  would  naturally  disappear.  A  large  population 
with  diverse  employments,  producing  all,  or  nearly  all,  that 
it  wants,  can  live  in  such  a  condition,  though  the  life  would 
be  a  bad  life ; — but  a  small  community  would  be  as  were 
Robinson  Crusoe  and  his  man  Friday,  wanting  almost  all 
that  man  requires,  though  overladen  with  much  'plenty. 

There  is  a  remedy  at  hand  for  the  injury  which  Tasmania 
now  suffers, — but  it  is  a  remedy  which  she  cannot  adopt 
without  soreness  of  heart,  without  dishonour,  without  self- 
annihilation.     She  can  become  a  part  of  Victoria,  and  then 


FUTURE  PROSPECTS.  179 

the  Victorian  markets  will  be  open  to  her.  Let  her  implore 
Victoria  to  take  her,  and  then  she  will  be  able  to  sell  her 
wheat  and  her  oats,  her  fruit  and  her  jam,  her  hops  and  her 
horses  at  Melbourne.  "  You  had  better  do  it,"  the  Vic- 
torian says  to  the  Tasmanian.     "  It  will  come  at  last." 

Men  in  Tasmania  are  beginning  to  feel  that  perhaps  they 
had  better  do  it,  though  the  idea  is  odious  to  them.  It  is 
impossible  that  this  island  ever  should  be  amalgamated  with 
the  big  continental  colony  on  equal  terms.  Were  the 
arrangement  made  on  seemingly  equitable  terms,  on  terms 
fixed  in  accordance  with  the  population,  Tasmania  would 
send  to  the  Victorian  legislature  one  Tasmanian  for  every 
eight  Victorians, — or  thereabouts ;  and  the  men  so  sent 
would  have  to  remain  in  Melbourne  for  eight  or  nine 
months  of  parliamentary  work.  This  small  minority  would 
be  almost  voiceless  among  their  louder  brethren,  and  it 
would  soon  come  to  pass  that  Tasmanians  would  not  go 
there.  Tasmania  would  be  represented  by  Victorians,  to 
whom  she  would  have  to  pay  the  salaries  which  Victorian 
legislators  now  receive.  Hobart  Town  would  no  longer  be 
a  seat  of  government.  Some  judge  would  come  there  on 
periodical  visits  as  often  as  Victorian  generosity  would  permit, 
and  that  judge  would  be  Victorian.  The  little  colony  would 
be  handed  over,  bound  hand  and  foot,  to  her  strong-fisted 
sister,  and  there  would  be  the  end  of  all  her  glories.  The 
reader  will  perhaps  feel  that  these  are  simply  sentimental 
objections,  and  will  say  that  the  material  advantages  to  be 
gained  would  more  than  compensate  them.  But  sentimental 
grievances  are  of  all  grievances  the  heaviest  to  bear,  and  the 
material  advantages  are  only  those  which  the  colony  has  a 
right  to  expect  without  any  sacrifice  of  her  honour. 

Such  a  change  of  things  would  be  detrimental  not  only  to 
Tasmania,  but  to  all  Australia  generally.  I  have  suggested 
in  a  former  paragraph  that  a  general  federal  union  of  these 
colonies  info  one  nationality  will  take  place  sooner  or  later. 
Such  I  believe  to  be  the  opinion  of  almost  all  who  have 
thought  upon  the  subject.  But  nothing  will  tend  so  much 
to  delay  this  result  as  the  special  greatness  and  supe- 
riority in  population  and  wealth  of  any  one  colony.     The 


180  TASMANIA. 

big  colony  will  think  twice  before  it  will  admit  the  little 
colony  to  equal  terms  with  it.  There  was  much  generosity 
on  foot  when  Virginia  and  New  York  united  themselves 
with  Rhode  Island,  and  a  great  patriotic  idea  was  urgent  in 
the  breasts  of  great  patriots.  Among  the  Australian  colonies 
each  colony  recognises  with  astonishing  accuracy  its  own 
position  in  wealth  and  population.  Victoria  is  even  now 
much  the  biggest.  Were  Tasmania  to  become  a  part  of 
Victoria,  I  fear  that  the  difficulty  of  forming,  first,  a  customs 
union  and  then  a  political  federal  union,  would  become 
greater  even  than  it  is  at  present. 

It  is  to  be  presumed  that  such  amalgamation  could  not 
be  effected  without  the  consent  of  the  government  at  home, 
and  that  the  matter  is  one  as  to  which  a  Secretary  of  State 
would  feel  himself  justified  in  refusing  his  consent  on  the 
ground  of  general  policy.  If  there  is  to  be  an  Australian  as 
well  as  a  Canadian  dominion,  or  rather  a  union  of  states, — ■ 
for  such  must  be  the  condition  rather  than  the  other, — it 
will  be  more  easily  effected  with  many  than  with  a  few. 
Before  that  day  shall  arrive,  there  will  probably  be  a 
northern  colony  in  Queensland,  and  a  further  division  from 
New  South  Wales  in  the  direction  of  the  big  rivers.  And 
there  will  be  a  northern  territory  in  that  which  is  all  now 
called  South  Australia,  with  a  capital  at  Port  Darwin.  I 
trust  that  thefairest  and  prettiest  and  pleasantest  of  all  the 
colonies  will  not  then  have  been  absorbed,  so  that  the  name 
of  Tasmania  shall  be  absent  from  the  roll  of  Australian 
States. 


APPENDIX. 


Appendix  No.  I.,  page  87. 

Regulations  under  which  free-selections  of  Land  can   be  tnade  in 
Victoria,  taken  from  MacPhaiWs  Australian  Squatting  Directory. 

For  Crown  lands,  not  being  lands  included  in  any  city,  town,  or 
borough,  licenses  to  occupy  for  a  period  of  three  years,  at  a  rental  ot 
2S.  per  acre  per  annum,  any  such  license  not  to  be  for  more  than  320 
acres,  may  be  granted  by  the  Governor  to  any  person  applying  and 
paying  half  a  year's  rent  in  advance  for  such  allotment. 

Applications  for  licenses  may  be  made  on  any  day  during  office  hours, 
personally,  to  a  land  officer  for  the  district,  and  applicants  shall  at  the 
time  of  application  deposit  half  a  year's  rent  of  allotment  in  advance. 

Every  license  shall  be  issued  under  the  following  conditions  : — (1.)  A 
condition  for  the  payment  of  the  fee  in  advance  at  half-yearly  intervals. 
(2.)  A  condition  that  the  licensee  will  not,  during  the  currency  of  such 
license,  assign  the  license,  nor  transfer  his  right,  title,  and  interest 
therein,  or  in  the  allotment  therein  described,  or  any  part  thereof,  nor 
sublet  the  said  allotment  or  any  part  thereof,  and  that  the  license  shall 
become  absolutely  void  on  assignment  of  such  license,  whether  by 
operation  of  law  or  otherwise,  or  upon  the  said  allotment  or  any  part 
thereof  being  sublet.  (3.)  A  condition  that  the  licensee  shall,  within 
two  years  from  the  issue  of  such  license,  enclose  the  land  described  in 
such  license  with  a  good  and  substantial  ience,  and  shall,  during  the 
currency  of  such  license,  cultivate  at  least  one  acre  out  of  every  ten 
acres  thereof.  (4.)  A  condition  annulling  the  license  in  case  of  non- 
payment of  the  fees,  or  any  of  them,  in  accordance  with  the  conditions 
herein  mentioned,  or  in  case  the  licensee  shall  not,  within  six  months 
after  the  issue  of  the  license,  and  thenceforward  during  the  continuance 
of  such  license,  occupy  the  allotment,  or  in  case  substantial  and  per- 
manent improvements  certified  in  writing  under  the  seal  of  the  Board 
or  under  the  hands  of  arbitrators  to  be  of  the  value  oi  £1  for  every  acre 
and  fractional  part  of  an  acre  of  the  allotment  shall  not  have  been  made 
on  the  allotment,  by  the  licensee,  his  executors,  or  administrators, 


1 82  APPENDIX. 

before  the  end  of  the  third  year  from  the  commencement  of  the  license, 
or  in  case  of  the  breach  or  non-fulfilment  of  any  of  the  conditions  of  the 
license,  or  of  a  violation  of  any  of  the  provisions  of  this  Act.  (5.)  A 
condition  that  if  the  licensee  shall,  during  the  said  period,  occupy  the 
allotment  for  not  less  than  two  years  and  a  half,  and  shall  fence  and 
cultivate  as  herein  provided,  and  make  the  improvements  of  the  nature 
and  value  in  the  previous  condition  mentioned,  on  the  allotment  during 
the  said  period  of  three  years,  and  shall  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
Board  (to  be  certified  under  its  seal)  by  such  evidence  as  the  Board  may 
require  that  he  has  complied  with  the  said  conditions,  and  with  all  other 
conditions  of  the  said  license,  he  shall  be  entitled  at  any  time,  within 
thirty  days  after  three  years  from  the  commencement  of  the  license,  to 
demand  and  obtain  from  the  Governor  a  Crown  grant,  upon  payment  of 
14s.  for  each  acre  or  fractional  part  of  an  acre,  or  otherwise  he  may 
obtain  a  lease  of  the  said  allotment ;  and  every  such  lease  shall  be  for  a 
term  of  seven  years,  at  a  yearly  rent  payable  in  equal  parts  half-yearly 
in  advance  of  2s.  for  each  acre  or  fractional  part  of  an  acre  so  demised, 
and  shall  contain  the  usual  covenant  for  the  payment  of  rent,  and  a 
condition  for  re-entry  on  non-payment  thereof;  and  upon  the  payment 
of  the  last  sum  due  on  account  of  the  rent  so  reserved,  or  at  any  time 
during  the  term,  upon  payment  of  the  difference  between  the  amount  of 
rent  actually  paid  and  the  entire  sum  of  ^1  for  each  acre,  the  lessee,  or 
his  representatives,  shall  be  entitled  to  a  grant  in  fee  of  the  lands  leased, 
and  every  such  grant  shall  be  subject  to  such  covenants,  conditions,  ex- 
ceptions, and  reservations  as  the  Governor  may  direct :  Provided  that 
in  the  case  of  the  death  of  the  licensee  during  the  currency  of  such 
license  it  shall  not  be  obligatory  on  the  executors  or  administrators  of 
such  licensee  to  comply  with  the  said  condition  of  occupation. 

No  such  license  or  lease  shall  give  power  to  any  licensee,  lessee,  or 
assignee  to  search  for  or  to  take  any  metal ;  and  it  is  provided  that 
before  any  license  or  lease  is  issued  to  any  applicant,  he  shall  make  a 
declaration  on  oath  before  a  justice,  in  a  form  settled  by  the  regulations, 
that  his  application  is  made  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  this 
Act. 

No  person  shall  become  the  licensee,  either  in  his  own  name  or  in 
the  name  of  any  other  person,  of  any  allotment,  who  shall  have 
selected,  under  any  previous  Land  Act,  the  maximum  number  of  320 
acres  allowed  under  this  Act,  or  who  shall  have  taken  up  a  pre-emptive 
right,  or  shall  have  made  a  selection,  or  whose  selection  shall  have  been 
forfeited  or  cancelled  for  the  evasion  of  any  such  Act.  But  a  selecter 
under  any  previous  Act  may  take  up  a  sufficient  quantity  of  land  to 
make  up  the  320  acres  allowed  by  this  Act. 

No  person  shall  become  the  licensee  of  any  allotment  who  is  under 
eighteen  years  of  age,  or  who  is  a  married  woman  not  having  obtained 
a  decree  of  judicial  separation,  or  who  is  a  trustee,  servant,  or  agent  in 
respect  of  the  license  applied  for,  or  who  has  entered  into  any  arrange- 
ment to  permit  any  other  person  to  acquire,  by  purchase  or  otherwise, 
the  allotment  or  any  part  of  it,  or  the  applicant's  interest  in  the  usufruct 
of  it,  and  all  land  applied  for  under  this  Act  shall  be  so  applied  for 


APPENDIX.  183 

bond  fide  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  applicant  in  his  own  proper 
person,  and  not  as  the  agent,  servant,  or  trustee  of  any  other  person,  on 
pain  of  the  forfeiture  of  the  license,  and  all  contracts  made  in  violation 
of  the  Act  shall  be  held  to  be  illegal  and  absolutely  void  both  at  law 
and  equity. 

If  it  be  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Board  within  sixty  days  of 
the  end  of  the  third  year  from  the  commencement  of  the  license  that 
substantial  and  permanent  improvements  of  the  value  of  ^1  per  acre  of 
the  allotment  have  been  made  upon  it,  in  the  terms  of  the  condition  of 
the  license,  a  certificate  under  the  seal  of  the  Board,  to  that  effect,  shall 
be  given  to  the  licensee,  his  executors  or  administrators.  But  if  the 
Board  be  not  satisfied  that  such  improvements  of  the  value  aforesaid 
have  been  made,  then  such  improvements  as  have  been  made  may  be 
valued  by  arbitration,  one  arbitrator  being  chosen  by  the  licensee,  his 
executors  or  administrators,  another  by  the  Board,  and  a  third  by  the 
two  arbitrators  so  chosen ;  and  such  arbitrators,  or  any  two  of  them, 
shall  make  their  valuation  in  writing  within  four  months  after  the  end 
of  the  third  year  from  the  commencement  of  the  license.  But  if  either 
party  shall  neglect  to  appoint  an  arbitrator,  then  the  one  chosen  by  the 
other  party  shall  have  full  power  to  value. 

The  Board  shall,  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  last  days  of  June  and 
December  in  every  year,  prepare  a  list  of  the  names  of  all  persons  from 
whom  fees  or  rent  shall  have  become  due  on  leases  granted  under  the 
Land  Act,  1862,  or  the  Amending  Land  Act,  1865,  on  leases  or 
licenses  under  this  part  of  this  Act,  and  who  shall  not  have  paid  such 
fees  or  rent,  and  the  days  upon  which  such  fees  or  rent  become  due, 
and  such  list  shall  be  forthwith  published  in  the  "Government  Gazette," 
and  the  insertion  in  such  list  of  the  name  of  any  person  from  whom 
such  fees  or  rent  have  become  due,  shall  he.  prima  facie  evidence  of  the 
non-payment  of  such  fees  or  rent,  and  shall  be  evidence  of  notice  to  the 
parties  named  that  their  fees  or  rent  are  due,  and  that  payment  thereof 
has  been  lawfully  demanded. 

The  licensee,  the  lessee,  and  assigns  of  an  allotment  of  land  shall 
have  all  the  rights  against  trespassers  which  at  law  belong  to  the  owner 
in  possession  of  any  land,  except  the  right  of  impounding ;  but  so  soon 
as  the  allotment,  or  the  part  of  it  trespassed  on,  shall  have  been 
properly  fenced,  then  they  shall  have  that  right  also. 

Holders  of  licenses  of  land  under  any  other  Act,  of  which  the 
licensees  shall  have  been  in  possession  at  least  two  years  and  a  half,  if 
it  be  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Board  that  they  have  erected 
buildings  or  other  improvements  on  such  lands,  and  that  the  conditions 
of  the  license  have  been  complied  with,  and  there  be  no  objections  on 
account  of  the  ground  being  auriferous,  or  other  reasons  of  a  public 
nature,  shall  have  the  exclusive  right  to  purchase  the  allotment  on 
which  such  improvements  stand,  at  a  price  to  be  determined  by  the 
Board  not  to  exceed  the  upset  price  of  the  nearest  land  Sold  by  the 
Crown  before  the  issue  of  such  license,  and  so  much  of  the  rent  paid  by 
the  licensee  during  his  possession  of  the  land  shall  be  credited  to  him 
in  the  purchase  money  of  the  said  land. 


1 84  APPENDIX. 


Appendix  No.  II.,  page  72. 

Melbourne  Botanic  Garden,  21st  February,  1872. 

TO   CLEMENT  HODGKINSON,    ESQ.,   ASSISTANT-COMMISSIONER   OF 
LANDS   AND   SURVEY. 

Sir, — Referring  to  your  suggestions  of  the  12th  inst.,  I  took  the 
earliest  opportunity  of  acting  upon  them,  and  accordingly,  on  the  15th 
inst.,  I  proceeded  to  the  Watts  River,  and  carefully  inspected  the 
heavily  timbered  country  extending  from  Mount  Monda  to  Mount 
Juliet,  also  the  various  spurs  and  tributaries  of  the  Watts,  extending  as 
high  up  as  the  crest  of  the  dividing  range  and  the  watershed  of  the 
Goulbourn  River. 

I  have  now  the  honour  to  report  that  a  very  large  extent  of  the  above 
country  is  densely  timbered  with  various  species  of  Eucalypti,  consisting 
principally  of  Eucalyptus  obliqua,  E.  Amygdalina,  and  E.  Goniocalyx. 

Immense  numbers  of  each  of  the  above  species  have  attained  gigantic 
dimensions,  and  very  much  surpass  any  other  species  of  Eucalypti  I 
have  ever  met  with  in  other  forests. 

On  penetrating  into  many  of  the  secluded  spots  near  the  source  of  the 
Watts,  and  on  the  spurs  of  the  ranges  in  the  vicinity,  I  met  with  large 
tracts  of  valuable  timber ;  enough  to  supply  all  ordinary  demands  for 
many  years,  if  carefully  conserved.  In  many  places  I  observed  large 
areas  where  the  axe  of  the  splitter  is  yet  unknown,  and  where  the 
timber  averages  from  100  to  150  trees  per  acre,  with  a  diameter  of  from 
2  ft.  to  6  ft.,  and  from  250  ft.  to  300  ft.  in  height,  the  most  of  which  is 
as  straight  as  an  arrow,  with  very  few  branches. 

Some  places,  where  the  trees  are  fewer  and  at  a  lower  altitude,  the 
timber  is  much  larger  in  diameter,  averaging  from  6  ft.  to  10  ft.,  and 
frequently  trees  of  15  ft.  in  diameter  are  met  with  on  alluvial  flats  near 
the  river.  These  trees  average  about  ten  per  acre ;  their  size,  some- 
times, is  enormous.  Many  of  the  trees  that  have  fallen  through  decay 
and  by  bush  fires  measure  350  ft.  in  length,  and  with  girth  in  propor- 
tion. In  one  instance  I  measured  with  the  tape  line  one  huge  specimen 
that  lay  prostrate  across  a  tributary  of  the  Watts,  and  found  it  to  be 
435  ft.  from  its  roots  to  the  top  of  the  trunk.  At  5  ft.  from  the  ground 
it  measures  18  ft.  in  diameter,  and  at  the  extreme  end  where  it  has 
broken  in  its  fall,  it  is  3  ft.  in  diameter.  This  tree  has  been  much  burnt 
by  fire,  and  I  fully  believe  that  before  it  fell  it  must  have  been  more 
than  500  ft.  high.  As  it  now  lies  it  forms  a  complete  bridge  across  a 
deep  ravine. 

Proceeding  from  Fernshaw  up  the  Black  Spur,  some  large  specimens 
of  Eucalyptus  obliqua  and  Amygdalina  may  be  seen ;  but  it  is  only  by 
leaving  the  main  road  and  following  some  of  the  splitters'  tracks  for 
several  miles  higher  up  the  Watts  that  the  forests  of  fine  timber  and 
large  trees  are  to  be  found.     On  some  spurs  of  these  ranges,  where  the 


APPENDIX.  185 

limber  is  extra  fine  in  quality,  some  few  trees  have  been  felled  by 
splitters,  but  the  mountainous  nature  of  the  country,  and  the  difficulty 
of  transport,  is  so  great,  it  will  be  many  years  before  much  destruction 
can  be  done  in  this  part  of  the  forest. 

The  number  of  splitters  at  present  working  in  these  forests  is  very 
limited,  and  is  likely  to  continue  so.  In  many  places  they  have  to  carry 
their  paling  and  shingles  for  long  distances  on  pack-horses.  The  ranges 
are  so  steep  that  it  is  a  work  of  much  difficulty  to  convey  them  to  some 
accessible  spot.  However,  the  splitter  in  this  region  seldom  meets  with 
a  hollow  tree,  and  he  takes  care  to  select  such  trees  only  as  will  turn 
out  from  lo,oco  to  20,000  palings,  and  frequently  a  much  greater 
number. 

The  only  destruction  at  present  to  be  dreaded  in  these  forests  is  fire. 
The  scrub  is  so  dense  that  it  is  difficult  to  penetrate  far  into  it,  and 
frequently  fire  is  used  to  clear  a  track,  and  in  its  progress  makes  sad 
havoc. 

Many  of  the  deep  ravines  and  sides  of  creeks  in  this  locality  abound 
with  splendid  specimens  of  native  beech  (Fungus  Cunninghamii),  some 
of  which  measure  upwards  of  100  ft.  high,  with  a  diameter  of  trunk 
fiom  5  to  8  ft.  This  limber  is  of  great  value,  and  ought  to  be  strictly 
preserved.  Great  quantities  of  blackwood  (Acacia  Melanoxylon),  of 
large  dimensions  and  fine  quality,  are  everywhere  interspersed  through- 
out these  forests,  mixed  with  sassafras  trees  (Atherosperma  Moschatum) 
and  dogwood  (Pomaderris  apetala),  also  of  large  size.  Lomatia 
Fraserii  also  forms  a  goodly  sized  tree  in  the  fern-tree  gullies,  along 
with  Acacia  decurrens,  many  of  which  have  attained  the  height  of 
150  ft.,  with  magnificent  straight  trunks  of  from  two  to  three  feet  in 
diameter.  The  timber  of  this  species  is  well  adapted  for  staves  for 
wine  casks  and  other  purposes. 

Seeing  that  such  large  quantities  of  valuable  timber  abound  in  the 
valley  of  the  Watts,  and  on  the  spurs  adjacent,  I  would  respectfully 
beg  to  recommend  the  reservation  of  every  acre,  wherever  it  would  not 
interfere  with  settlement,  for,  as  a  whole,  the  timber  in  the  locality  of 
the  Watts,  and  ranges  adjacent,  is  of  far  more  value  than  the  land,  and 
it  is  rare  to  find  such  forests  of  sound  timber  in  any  other  part  of 
Victoria. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  Sir,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

William  Ferguson,  Inspector  of  State  Forests. 


APPENDIX. 


Appendix  No.  III.,  page  176. 

CORRESPONDENCE    AS    TO    THE    CREATION    OF    A 
CUSTOMS   UNION   AMONG  THE   COLONIES. 

Circular. 

Downing  Street,  l^thjuly,  1 871. 

Sir, 

I  HAVE  had  for  some  time  under  my  consideration  Despatches 
from  the  Governors  of  several  of  the  Australasian  Colonies,  intimating 
the  desire  of  the  Colonial  Governments  that  any  two  or  more  of  those 
Colonies  should  be  permitted  to  conclude  agreements  securing  to  each 
other  reciprocal  Tariff  advantages ;  and  reserved  Bills  to  this  effect  have- 
already  reached  me  from  New  Zealand  and  Tasmania. 

It  appears  that  whilst  it  is  at  present  impossible  to  form  a  general 
Customs  Union,  owing  to  the  conflicting  views  of  the  different  Colonial 
Governments  as  to  Customs  Duties,  the  opinion  extensively  prevails, 
which  was  expressed  at  the  Intercolonial  Conference  held  at  Melbourne 
last  year,  in  favour  of  such  a  relaxation  of  the  Law  as  would  allow  each 
Colony  of  the  Australasian  Group  to  admit  any  of  the  products  or 
manufactures  of  the  other  Australasian  Colonies  Duty  free,  or  on  more 
favourable  terms  than  similar  products  and  manufactures  of  other 
Countries. 

At  the  same  time  it  has  not  been  stated  to  me  from  any  quarter  that 
the  subject  urgently  presses  for  the  immediate  decision  or  action  of  Her 
Majesty's  Government ;  and  I  trust,  therefore,  that  any  delay  that  may 
arise  in  dealing  with  it  will  be  attributed  to  its  true  cause,  namely,  to 
the  desire  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  to  consider  the  subject  delibe- 
rately in  all  its  bearings  with  a  view  to  arrive  at  such  a  settlement  as 
may  not  merely  meet  temporary  objects,  but  constitute  a  permanent 
system  resting  upon  sound  principles  of  commercial  policy. 

The  necessary  consultations  with  the  Board  of  Trade  and  with  the 
Law  Ofiicers  have  unavoidably  been  protracted  to  a  late  period  of  the 
Session ;  and  if  Her  Majesty's  Government  were  satisfied  that  they 
could  properly  consent  to  the  removal  of  the  restrictions  against 
Differential  Duties,  it  would  not  be  possible  now  to  obtain  for  so  im- 
portant a  measure  the  attention  which  it  should  receive  from  Parliament. 
It  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  the  introduction  of  a  Bill  to  enable 
the  Australasian  Colonies  to  impose  Differential  Duties  might  raise 
serious  discussions  and  opposition  both  in  Parliament  and  in  the 
Country,  on  the  ground  that  such  a  measure  would  be  inconsistent  with 
the  principles  of  Free  Trade,  and  prejudicial  to  the  commercial  and 
political  relations  between  the  different  parts  of  the  Empire  ;  and  I  feel 
confident  that  the  Colonial  Governments  will  not  regret  to  have  an 
opportunity  afforded  them  of  further  friendly  discussion  of  the  whole 
subject,  after  learning  the  views  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  upon  it, 
before  any  final  conclusion  is  arrived  at,     I  will  therefore  proceed  to 


APPENDIX.  187 

notice  those  points  which  seem  to  Her  Majesty's  Government  to  require 
particular  examination. 

The  Government  of  New  Zealand  appears  from  the  Bill  laid  before 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  from  the  financial  statement  of  the 
Treasurer,  to  have  originally  contemplated  the  granting  of  special 
bonuses  to  goods  imported  into  New  Zealand  from  the  other  Australa- 
sian Colonies.  As,  however,  this  expedient  was  not  eventually  adopted, 
I  am  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  discussing  the  objections  to  such  a 
mode  of  avoiding  the  rule  against  Differential  Duties. 

The  proposal  now  before  me  raises  the  following  questions  ;  viz., — - 

1.  Whether  a  precedent  exists  in  the  case  of  the  British  North 
American  Colonies  for  the  relaxation  of  the  rule  or  law  now  in  force. 

2.  Whether  Her  Majesty's  Treaty  obligations  with  any  Foreign 
Powers  interfere  with  such  relaxation. 

3.  Whether  a  general  power  should  be  given  to  the  Australasian 
Governments  to  make  reciprocal  Tariff  arrangements,  imposing  Dif- 
ferential Duties,  without  the  consent  of  the  Imperial  Government  in 
each  particular  case. 

4.  Whether  on  grounds  of  general  Imperial  policy  the  proposal  can 
properly  be  adopted. 

The  Attorney-General  of  New  Zealand,  in  his  Report  accompanying 
the  reserved  Bill,  observes  that  its  main  provisions  are  almost  a  literal 
copy  of  provisions  which  have  been  for  some  time  past  in  force  in 
Canada  and  other  North  American  Colonies  ;  and  I  observe  that  in  the 
various  communications  before  me  the  argument  is  repeatedly  pressed 
that  the  Australasian  Colonies  are  entitled  to  the  same  treatment  in  this 
respect  as  the  North  American  Colonies.  It  may  be  as  well,  therefore, 
to  explain  what  these  provisions  actually  are. 

I  enclose  extracts  from  the  Acts  of  Newfoundland  and  Prince  Edward 
Island  of  the  year  1856  ;  but  I  need  not  dwell  upon  them,  because,  as 
dealing  with  a  limited  list  of  raw  materials  and  produce  not  imported  to 
those  Colonies  from  Europe,  they  are  hardly,  if  at  all,  applicable  to  the 
present  case  ;  and  I  shall  refer  only  to  the  Act  passed  by  the  Dominion 
of  Canada  in  1867  (31  Vict.  cap.  7),  which  is  the  enactment  principally 
relied  upon  as  a  precedent. 

Schedule  D  of  this  Act  exempts  from  Duty  certain  specified  raw 
materials  and  produce  of  the  British  North  American  Provinces  ;  and 
the  3rd  Section  enacts,  that  "any  other  articles  than  those  mentioned 
in  Schedule  D,  being  of  the  growth  and  produce  of  the  British  North 
American  Provinces,  may  be  specially  exempted  from  Customs  Duty  by 
order  of  the  Governor  in  Council." 

This,  which  was  one  of  the  first  Acts  of  the  Legislature  of  the  newly 
constituted  Dominion  in  its  opening  Session,  was  passed  in  the  expecta- 
tion that,  at  no  distant  date,  the  other  Possessions  of  Her  Maje^y  in 
North  America  would  become  part  of  the  Dominion ;  and  the  assent  of 
Her  Majesty's  Government  to  a  measure  passed  in  circumstances  so 
peculiar  and  exceptional  cannot  form  a  precedent  of  universal  and 
necessary  application, — although  I  am  not  prepared  to  deny  that  the 


1 88  APPENDIX. 

Australasian  Governments  are  justified  in  citing  it  as  an  example  of  the 
admission  of  the  principle  of  Differential  Duties. 

With  reference  to  the  second  question,  as  to  the  existence  of  any 
Treaty  the  obligations  of  which  might  be  inconsistent  with  compliance 
by  Her  Majesty  with  the  present  proposal,  the  Board  of  Trade  have 
informed  me  that  this  point  could  only  be  raised  in  connection  with  the 
terms  of  the  Treaty  between  this  Country  and  the  Zollverein  of  1865, 
extended  through  the  operation  of  the  "  most  favoured  nation"  Article 
to  all  other  countries  possessing  rights  conferred  by  that  stipulation. 

The  7th  Article  of  that  Treaty,  which  extends  the  provisions  of 
previous  Articles  to  the  Colonies  and  Foreign  Possessions  of  Her 
Majesty,  contains  the  following  provision  : — 

"In  the  Colonies  and  Possessions  the  produce  of  the  States  of  the 
Zollverein  shall  not  be  subject  to  any  higher  or  other  Import  Duties 
than  the  produce  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
or  of  any  other  Country  of  the  like  kind."  I  am  advised  that  this  7th 
Article  may  be  held  not  to  preclude  Her  Majesty  from  "  permitting  the 
Legislature  of  a  British  Possession  to  impose  on  articles  being  the  pro- 
duce of  the  States  of  the  Zollverein  any  higher  or  other  Import  Duties 
than  those  which  are  levied  on  articles  of  the  like  kind  which  are  the 
produce  of  another  British  Possession,  provided  such  Duties  are  not 
higher  or  other  than  the  Duties  imposed  on  articles  of  the  like  kind 
being  the  produce  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land." 

But,  apart  from  the  strict  interpretation  of  the  Treaty,  it  seems  very 
doubtful  whether  it  would  be  a  wise  course  on  the  part  of  the  Australa- 
sian Colonies,  which  both  as  regards  Emigration  and  Trade  have  more 
extensive  relations  with  Germany  than  with  perhaps  any  other  Foreign 
Country,  to  place  German  products  and  manufactures  under  disadvan- 
tages in  the  Colonial  markets. 

Proceeding  to  the  third  question,  whether,  if  the  principle  of  allowing 
the  imposition  of  Differential  Duties  were  conceded,  the  Colonies  could 
be  permitted  to  impose  such  Duties  without  the  express  sanction  of  the 
Imperial  Government  in  each  particular  case,  you  will  be  prepared,  by 
what  I  have  already  said,  to  learn  that  I  consider  it  open  to  serious 
doubt  whether  such  absolute  freedom  of  action  could  be  safely  given. 

Her  Majesty's  Government  are  alone  responsible  for  the  due  ob- 
servance of  Treaty  arrangements  between  Foreign  Countries  and  the 
whole  Empire  :  and  it  would  be  scarcely  possible  for  the  Colonial 
Governments  to  foresee  the  extent  to  which  the  trade  of  other  parts  of 
the  Empire  might  be  affected  by  special  Tariff  agreements  between 
particular  Colonies. 

It  must,  moreover,  be  anticipated  that  these  differential  agreements, 
being  avowedly  for  the  supposed  benefit  of  certain  classes  of  the  com- 
munity, would  be  liable  to  be  affected  by  temporary  political  circum- 
stances. The  door  having  been  once  opened,  each  producing  or  manu- 
facturing interest,  and  even  individuals  desirous  of  promoting  any  new 
enterprise,  might  in  turn  press  for  exceptionably  favourable  treatment 
under  the  foim  of  Intercolonial  reciprocity,  while  the  real  grounds  for 


APPENDIX.  189 

such  changes  as  might  be  proposed  would  be  intelligible  only  to  those 
concerned  with  local  politics. 

It  would  appear,  therefore,  to  be  by  no  means  clear  that  Her  Majesty's 
Government  covdd  be  relieved  from  the  obligation  of  examining  the 
particulars  of  each  contemplated  agreement,  however  limited ;  and 
while  it  would  be  very  difficult  for  them  to  make  such  an  examination 
in  a  satisfactory  manner,  a  detailed  inquiry  of  this  kind  could  hardly  fail 
to  be  irksome  to  the  Colonies,  and  to  lead  to  misunderstandings. 

It  remains  for  me,  lastly,  to  ask  how  far  it  is  expedient,  in  the  interests 
of  each  Colony  concerned,  and  of  the  Empire  collectively,  that  the  Im- 
perial Parliament  should  be  invited  to  legislate  in  a  direction  contrary 
to  the  established  commercial  policy  of  this  country. 

Her  Majesty's  Government  are  bound  to  say  that  the  measure  pro- 
posed by  the  Colonial  Government  seems  to  them  inconsistent  with 
those  principles  of  Free  Trade  which  they  believe  to  be  alone  per- 
manently conducive  to  commercial  prosperity ;  nor,  as  far  as  they  are 
aware,  has  any  attempt  been  made  to  show  that  any  great  practical 
benefit  is  expected  to  be  derived  from  reciprocal  Tariff  arrangements 
between  the  Australasian  Colonies. 

At  all  events  I  do  not  find  anywhere  among  the  papers  which  have 
reached  me  those  strong  representations  and  illustrations  of  the  utility 
or  necessity  of  the  measure  which  I  think  might  fairly  be  expected  to 
be  adduced  as  weighing  against  its  undeniable  inconveniences. 

It  is,  indeed,  stated  in  an  Address  before  me  that  the  prohibition  ot 
differential  Customs  treatment  "  operates  to  the  serious  prejudice  of  the 
various  producing  interests  of  the  Australian  Colonies."  I  understand 
this  and  similar  expression's  to  mean  that  it  is  desired  to  give  a  special 
stimulus  or  premium  to  the  Colonial  producers  and  manufacturers,  and 
to  afford  them  the  same  advantage  in  a  neighbouring  Colony  over  the 
producers  and  manufacturers  of  all  other  parts  of  the  Empire  and  of 
Foreign  Countries  as  they  would  have  within  their  own  Colony  under 
a  system  of  Protective  Duties.  What  is  termed  reciprocity  is  thus  in 
reality  protection. 

It  is,  of  course,  unnecessary  for  me  to  observe  that,  whilst  Her 
Majesty's  Government  feel  bound  to  take  every  proper  opportunity  of 
urging  upon  the  Colonies,  as  well  as  upon  Foreign  Governments,  the 
great  advantages  which  they  believe  to  accrue  to  every  country  which 
adopts  a  policy  of  Free  Trade,  they  have  relinquished  all  interference 
with  the  imposition  by  a  Colonial  Legislature  of  equal  duties  upon 
goods  from  all  places,  although  those  duties  may  really  have  the  effect 
of  protection  to  the  native  producer. 

But  a  proposition  that  in  one  part  of  the  Empire  commercial  privi- 
leges should  be  granted  to  the  inhabitants  of  certain  other  parts  of  the 
Empire  to  the  exclusion  and  prejudice  of  the  rest  of  Her  Majesty's  sub- 
jects, is  an  altogether  different  question;  and  I  would  earnestly  request 
your  Government  to  consider  what  effect  it  may  have  upon  the  relations 
between  the  Colonies  and  this  country. 

Her  Majesty's  subjects  throughout  the  Empire,  and  nowhere  more 
than  in  Australasia,  have  manifested  on  various  occasions  of  late  their 


190  APPENDIX. 

strong  desire  that  the  connection  between  the  Colonies  and  this  Country 
should  be  maintained  and  strengthened  ;  but  it  can  hardly  be  doubted 
that  the  imposition  of  Differential  Duties  upon  British  produce  and 
manufactures  must  have  a  tendency  to  weaken  that  connection,  and  to 
impair  the  friendly  feeling  on  both  sides,  which  I  am  confident  your 
Government,  as  much  as  Her  Majesty's  Government,  desire  to  preserve. 

I  have  thought  it  right  to  state  frankly  and  unreservedly  the  views  of 
Her  Majesty's  Government  on  this  subject,  in  order  that  the  Colonial 
Government  may  be  thoroughly  aware  of  the  nature  and  gravity  of  the 
points  which  have  to  be  decided ;  but  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood 
to  indicate  that  Her  Majesty's  Government  have,  in  the  present  state  of 
their  information,  come  to  any  absolute  conclusion  on  the  questions 
which  I  have  discussed. 

The  objections  which  I  have  pointed  out  to  giving  to  the  Colonies  a 
general  power  of  making  reciprocal  arrangements  would  not  apply  to  a 
Customs  Union  wiith  an  uniform  Tariff;  and  although  such  a  general 
union  of  all  the  Colonies  is,  it  appears,  impracticable,  it  may  be  worth 
while  to  consider  whether  the  difficulty  might  not  be  met  by  a  Customs 
Union  between  two  or  more  Colonies. 
I  have  the  honour  to  be, 
Sir, 

Your  most  obedient  humble  servant, 

K.IMBERLEY. 

Governor  Du  Cane. 


TASMANIA. 

Memorandum. 

Lord  Kimberley's  Despatch,  under  date  of  the  13th  July,  1871,011 
the  question  of  Intercolonial  Reciprocity,  has  received  the  attentive 
consideration  of  His  Excellency's  Advisers. 

It  is  satisfactory  to  find  that  the  Secretary  of  State  admits  that,  in 
the  cases  of  Newfoundland  and  Prince  Edward  Island  in  1856,  and  of 
the  Dominion  of  Canada  in  1867,  Her  Majesty's  Government  have 
assented  to  Acts  exempting  Colonial  products  from  the  duties  imposed 
on  similar  articles  when  imported  from  Europe :  and  that,  as  regards 
the  latest  precedent,  Lord  Kimberley is  "not  prepared  to  deny  that  the 
Australasian  Governments  are  justified  in  citing  it  as  an  example  of  the 
admission  of  the  principle  of  Differential  Duties." 

It  is  not  easy  to  understand  why  the  earlier  precedents  are  not 
similarly  recognised  as  applicable  to  the  recent  demand  for  an  admission 
of  the  same  principle  by  the  Legislatures  of  New  Zealand  and  Tas- 
mania, to  which  may  now  be  added  that  of  South  Australia.  The  lists 
of  articles  in  the  sections  of  Statutes  appended  to"  the  Despatch  com- 
prise, in  the  main,  the  products  and  manufactures  of  the  Provinces  and 
Colonies  therein  named.  And  the  Reciprocity  Conventions  contem- 
plated by  the  reserved  Bills  of  Tasmania  and  New  Zealand  would  deal 


APPENDIX.  tgi 

similarly  with  the  products  and  manufactures  of  the  Australasian 
Colonies. 

There  is,  however,  another  example  of  the  admission  of  the  principle 
of  Differential  Duties  by  Her  Majesty's  Government  which  is  not 
referred  to  by  Lord  Kimberley.  The  Acts  of  the  Legislatures  of  Vic- 
toria and  New  South  Wales  which  sanction  the  reciprocal  importation 
across  the  Murray  Border  of  goods,  which  are  liable  to  Customs  Duties 
on  the  wharves  of  Melbourne  and  Sydney,  have  received  Her  Majesty's 
assent,  and  constitute  a  recent  and  conspicuous  precedent  for  legislation 
in  favour  of  Intercolonial  Reciprocity  :  and  this  example  derives  special 
importance  from  the  fact  that  the  Acts  in  question  were  passed  in  the 
exercise  of  powers  to  legislate  on  this  point,  specially  conferred  upon 
Victoria  and  New  South  Wales  by  the  Imperial  Statutes  which  granted 
to  those  Colonies  their  present  Constitutions. 

It  would,  therefore,  seem  that  all  the  precedents  that  can  be  instanced 
of  Imperial  assent  to  Colonial  Legislatioa  on  this  point  may  be  "  cited 
as  examples  of  the  admission  of  the  principle  of  Differential  Duties." 

When  we  come  to  the  extent  to  which  such  Colonial  Legislation 
would  affect  Her  Majesty's  Treaty  obligations  with  Foreign  Powers,  it 
is  admitted  that  there  is  but  one  Treaty  in  existence  which  contains  a 
stipulation  restricting  the  fiscal  legislation  of  "  Colonies  and  Posses- 
sions" of  the  British  Crown;  and  that  the  Secretary  of  State  is 
"  advised  "  that  the  Article  in  question  "  may  be  held  not  to  preclude 
Her  Majesty  from  permitting  " — to  quote  the  language  of  the  Dispatch 
■ — "such  a  relaxation  of  the  Laws  as  would  allow  each  Colony  of  the 
Australasian  Group  to  admit  any  of  the  products  or  manufactures  of  the 
other  Australian  Colonies  duty  free,  or  on  more  favourable  terms  than 
similar  products  and  manufactures  of  other  countries." 

From  this  we  may  infer  that,  while  Her  Majesty  is  bound  to  require 
that  Differential  Duties  shall  not  be  imposed  upon  imports  into  British 
Colonies  from  the  United  Kingdom  and  Foreign  States,  Her  Majesty 
is  not  required  by  any  Treaty  to  refuse  the  Royal  Assent  to  Measures 
admitting  the  reciprocal  importation  between  two  or  more  British 
Possessions,  duty  free,  of  articles  which  the  Colonial  Legislatures  have 
subjected  to  Customs  Duties  when  imported  from  Europe. 

Lord  Kimbeiley's  suggestion  of  the  impolicy  of  placing  "  German 
products  and  manufactures  under  disadvantages  in  the  Colonial  mar- 
kets," seems  to  touch  a  subject  on  which  it  maybe  said  the  Legislatures 
of  Australasia  are  the  legitimate,  perhaps  the  best,  judges. 

Lord  Kimberley's  observations  on  the  question  of  Colonial  Diffe- 
rential Duties  as  affecting  the  general  Imperial  Policy  seem  to  proceed 
upon  a  misconception  of  the  object  aimed  at  by  the  Australasian 
Governments,  and  of  the  motives  which  influence  the  advocates  of  the 
removal  of  Imperial  restrictions  on  the  fiscal  legislation  of  the  Colonies. 

The  object  of  the  Tariff  Conference  held  in  Melbourne  last  year  was 
to  establish  a  Commercial  Union  of  the  Australias  and  New  Zealand 
on  the  basis  of  a  common  Tariff,  with  a  distribution  of  the  Customs 
Revenue  to  the  several  Colonies  according  to  population.  That  object 
was  found  to  be,  at  that  time,   unattainable ;   and  the  Conference 


r92  APPENDIX. 

adopted  a  unanimous  Resolution  to  the  effect  that  it  was  desirable  that 
the  Colonial  Legislatures  should  be  freed  from  Imperial  restrictions  on 
their  reciprocal  fiscal  arrangements. 

Her  Majesty's  Government  had  intimated  their  readiness  to  assent  to 
a  Customs  Union  of  two  or  more  Colonies  ;  but,  when  such  an  arrange- 
ment was  found  to  be  impracticable,  the  Governments  represented  at 
the  Conference  were  willing  to  rest  content  with  the  removal  of  the 
existing  restrictions  on  Intercolonial  trade  by  Reciprocity  Conventions. 

It  is  difficult  to  apprehend  the  force  of  objections  offered  to  this  mode 
of  treating  the  question  when  no  objection  is  raised  to  a  Customs 
Union,  which  would  produce  precisely  analogous  results  on  a  much 
larger  scale. 

A  Customs  Union  between  all  the  Australasian  Colonies  would 
enable  these  Countries  to  impose,  if  it  were  thought  desirable,  protec- 
tive duties  upon  imports  from  Europe,  while  Colonial  products  and 
manufactures  were  reciprocally  interchanged  duty  free.  How,  it  may 
be  asked,  can  such  a  system  be  deemed  legitimate  and  admissible,  when 
a  plan  for  carrying  it  into  only  partial  operation  by  less  direct  means  is 
held  to  be  open  to  grave  objections  ? 

Her  Majesty's  Government  are  prepared,  we  are  informed,  to  sanc- 
tion an  arrangement  that  would  enable  a  group  of  six  Colonies,  if  they 
were  so  minded,  to  establish  absolute  Free  Trade  among  themselves  in 
combination  with  Protection  against  all  the  world  beside.  But  when 
two  Colonies  desire  to  be  placed  in  a  similar  position  by  a  Tariff  Con- 
vention, "  Her  Majesty's  Government  are  bound  to  say  that  the  measure 
proposed  seems  to  them  inconsistent  with  those  principles  of  Free  Trade 
which  they  believe  to  be  alone  permanently  conducive  to  commercial 
prosperity." 

By  Lord  Kimberley's  own  showing  there  are  precedents  for  the  legis- 
lation now  submitted  for  the  Royal  assent ;  and  there  are  no  legal 
obstacles  to  its  recognition  in  the  shape  of  Imperial  Treaty  obligations. 
It  is  only  on  an  abstract  theory  of  the  superior  advantages  of  a  Free 
Trade  policy  that  the  Secretary  of  State  objects  to  a  proposal  which 
seems  to  sanction  Protection  under  the  name  of  Reciprocity. 

These  are  views  which  can  find  no  acceptance  with  Colonial  Legis- 
latures under  a  system  of  Constitutional  Government.  The  question 
they  desire  to  solve  is  one  directly  affecting  the  interests  of  the  com- 
nnmities  for  which  those  Legislatures  are  elected  to  make  Laws.  Its 
effect  upon  Imperial  interests  is  almost  inappreciable.  The  doubt 
whether  "the  imposition  of  Differential  Duties  upon  British  produce 
and  manufactures  might  not  have  a  tendency  to  weaken  the  connection 
between  the  Mother  Country  and  the  Colonies,  and  to  impair  the 
friendly  feeling  on  both  sides,"  seems  scarcely  warranted  by  a  fair 
consideration  of  the  who  e  bearing  of  the  application  under  discussion. 

It  may  be  observed  that  the  Tariffs  of  the  Australasian  Colonies 
have,  in  effect.for  some  years  past  imposed  duties  on  British  manu- 
factures either  intentionally  or  incidentally  protective 

Is  it  to  be  supposed  that  the  "friendly  feeling  on  both  sides  »  which 
has  survived  the  imposition  of  Protective   or   Prohibitory  Duties  on 


APPENDIX.  193 

British  manufactures  would  be  "impaired"  by  a  Reciprocity  Conven- 
tion,— for  example,  between  Victoria  and  Tasmania, — which  permitted 
the  products  and  manufactures  of  those  Colonies  to  be  mutually  ex- 
changed duty  free,  or  under  a  lower  duty  than  similar  articles  imported 
from  the  United  Kingdom  ?  It  may  be  suggested  with  far  greater 
probability  that  "  the  friendly  feeling  on  both  sides  "  is  more  likely  to  be 
impaired  by  the  refusal  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  to  relax  a  Law 
which  imposes  an  irksome  restriction  on  the  fiscal  legislation,  and 
vexatiously  intermeddles  with  the  domestic  taxation,  of  these  self- 
governed  Colonies. 

Lord  Kimberley  seems  to  complain  of  the  absence  of  "  strong  repre- 
sentations and  illustrations  of  the  utility  or  necessity  of  the  measure." 
The  unanimous  Resolution  of  the  Conference  of  last  year,  and  the 
subsequent  identical  legislation  of  New  Zealand,  South  Australia,  and 
Tasmania,  may  be  taken  as  a  sufficient  indication  of  the  strength  of  the 
conviction  of  the  Governments  and  Legislatures  of  Australasia  of  the 
urgent  necessity,  and  by  consequence  in  their  judgment  of  the  utility, 
of  the  measure. 

As  far  as  the  Colony  of  Tasmania  is  concerned,  the  "necessity  and 
utility  of  the  measure"  are  sufficiently  obvious.  Our  Customs  Duties 
are  imposed  for  revenue  purposes  only.  But  when  our  nearest  neigh- 
bours practically  close  against  our  producers  and  manufacturers  their 
best  and  natural  market  by  the  comprehensive  operation  of  an  inten- 
tionally Protective  Tariff,  we  seek  relief  in  Reciprocity  Conventions, 
which,  while  they  would  extend  the  basis  of  commercial  operations 
between  us  and  our  neighbours,  would  in  no  way  prejudice  the  interests 
of  European  producers  and  manufacturers,  inasmuch  as  the  desired 
Convention  would,  for  the  most  part,  "  deal  with  a  limited  list  of  raw 
materials  and  produce  not  imported  to  these  Colonies  from  Europe." 

Lord  Kimberley's  treatment  of  this  question  indicates  throughout  a 
natural  anxiety  to  avoid  a  decision  which  might  seem  to  commit  Her 
Majesty's  Government  to  a  departure  "  from  the  established  commercial 
policy  "  of  the  Mother  Country.  But,  since  His  Lordship  assures  us 
that  Her  Majesty's  Government  have  not  "come  to  any  absolute  con- 
clusion on  the  questions  which  he  has  discussed,"  we  may  venture  to 
hope  that  a  firm  but  respectful  persistence  in  the  course  of  legislation 
already  adopted  by  New  Zealand,  Tasmania,  and  South  Australia,  will 
shortly  secure  for  the  Australasian  Colonies  that  freedom  from  Imperial 
restrictions  on  their  fiscal  relations  with  each  other  which  the  con- 
ciliatory policy  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  has  already  conceded  to 
the  Colonies  of  British  North  America. 

James  Milne  "Wilson. 

Colonial  Secretary' 's  Office,  wth  September,  1871. 

His  Excellency  the  Governor, 


INDEX. 


VICTORIA. 

"  Argus,"  Victorian  Newspaper, 
107 

"  Australasian,"  Victorian  News- 
paper, 107 

Ballaarat,  23,  43 

Band  of  Hope  and  Albion  Con- 
sols, 51 

Batman,  John,  applies  for  Land 
at  Port  Phillip,  15 

Baudin,  Captain,  French  Ex- 
plorer, 12 

Beechworth,  113 

Bendigo  or  Sandhurst,  52 

Benevolent  Asylum,  Melbourne, 
36 

Campbell,  Mr.  "William,  74 

Clunes  Gold-field,  44 

Coaches,  Victorian,  in 

Collingwood,  Suburb  of  Mel- 
bourne, 33 

Country  Gentlemen,  92 

Country  Houses,  89 

Country  Life,  95 

Cutting  out  Cattle,  65 

Darling,  Governor,  14,  19 

Diggers'  Licenses,  45 

Edwards'  Reef,  69 

Emerald  Hill,  Suburb  of  Mel- 
bourne, 34 

Esmond,  Discoverer  of  Gold  in 
Victoria,  44 

Fawkner,  early  Settler,  20 


Fitzroy,  Suburb  of  Melbourne,  33 
Flinders,  Captain,  Explorer,  12, 17 
Free-Selecters,  Mode  of  selecting 

Land,  83,  85 
Gambling  in  Gold-fields,  58 
Gipps  Land,  62 
Government  House,   Melbourne, 

39 
Great  Extended  Hustler's  Tribute 

Mine,  55 
Grimes,  Mr.,  Surveyor-General  of 

New  South  Wales,  13 
Hargreaves,  Discoverer  of  Gold  in 

New  South  Wales,  44 
Henty,  Mr.,  first  Colonist  in  Vic- 
toria, 16 
Hovell,  Mr.,  Explorer,  14 
Hume,  Mr.,  Explorer,  14 
Imports  and  Exports,  122 
Land  Laws  in  Victoria,  73 
La  Trobe,  Mr.,  Governor,  75 
Legislative  Assembly,  116 
Legislative  Council,  117 
Lewes,  Mr.  R.,  Mayor   of  Bal- 
laarat, 49 
Literature,  Colonial,  107 
Long  Tunnel  Mine,  Walhalla,  68 
Lonsdale,    Captain,   Vice -Gover- 
nor, 20 
Lowe,  Mr.,  his  Opinion  as  to  the 

Land  Laws,  80 
Lunatic  Asylums,  Melbourne,  38 
Manners  of  the  People,  97 
Matlock,  Gold  Town,  70 


INDEX. 


195 


Melbourne,  Foundation  of,  29 
Melbourne   Banks,    Magnificence 

of»  33 

Miners'  Habits,  59 

Mining  Companies,  Number  and 
Names,  56 

Mueller,  Dr.  Von,  Botanist,  36 

Murray,  Lieutenant,  first  dis- 
covered Port  Phillip,  12 

Newspapers,  Australian,  107 

Oxley,  Mr.,  Surveyor-General  in 
New  South  Wales,  14 

Palmer,  Mr.  Roundell,  his  Opinion 
of  the  Land  Laws,  79 

Patronage,  Misuse  of,  119 

Port  Phillip,  Early  History  of,  12 

Railway  System,  108 

Rent,  Pastoral,  87 

Revenue,  12 1 

Richmond,  Suburb  of  Melbourne, 

33 
Rusden,    Mr.    G.   W.,   of   Mel- 
bourne, 1,  12 
Sale,  Capital  of  Gipps  Land,  11 1 
Sandhurst  or  Bendigo,  52 
Separation  of  the  Colonies  from 

Great  Britain,  I 
"  Sydney  Morning  Herald,"  Syd- 
ney Newspaper,  107 
Trinity  College,  Melbourne,  35 
University  of  Melbourne,  34 
Verandah,  The,  38,  53 
Walhalla,  Gold  Town,  67 
Wine,  Australian,  113 
"  Winter's  Freehold  "  Gold-mine, 

49 
Women,  99 

Woods  Point  Gold-field,  71 
Wool,  Staple  of  the  Colony,  122 
Yarra  Yarra  River,  23 
Yering,  Manufacture  of  Wine,  1 15 
Young  Men,  101 

TASMANIA. 

Allpoi  t,  Mr.,  as  to  River  Fish,  163 
Annexation  to  Victoria,  179 
Barron,  a  Convict,  150 
Brady,  a  Convict,  137 


Campbelltown,  159 
Cash,  a  Convict,  137 
Change  of  Name  of  the  Colony,  129 
Collins,      Colonel,      Lieutenant- 
Governor,  132 
Convict  System,  134 — 144 
Convicts,  Numbers  of,  147 
Customs    Duties,    International, 

174—178 
Decrease  of  Trade,  171 
Denison,  Sir  William,  Governor, 

129 
Dogs  used  to  guard  Convicts,  145 
Doherty,  a  Convict,  152 
Eagle  Hawk  Neck,  145 
Early  History,  127 — 133 
Farming,  156 
Fingal  Gold-field,  165 
Fish  in  Tasmanian  Rivers,  162 
Fisher,  a  Convict,  152 
Fruit  in  Tasmania,  164 
Future  Prospects  of  the  Colony, 

169 
Gold,  165 
Government    House,    Tasmania, 

161 
Hobart    Town,    Capital    of    the 

Colony,  160 
Hops,  163 

Howe,  a  Convict,  137 
Launceston,  Town  so  named,  155 
Loyalty  in  Tasmania,  155 
Maria   Van    Diemen,    Island    so 

called,  132 
Markham,  a  Convict,  137 
Melton,  Town  of,  so  named,  160 
Population,  158 
Port  Arthur,  143 
Rabbits,  142 
Revenue,  167 
Tasman,  Abel  Jan,  132 
Tasman's  Arch,  146 
Tasman's  Peninsula,  145 
Van   Diemen's   Land,    Island   so 

called,  132 
Victorian  Tariffs,  164 
Wages  of  Convicts,  139 
Wages  of  Labourers,  156 
Wool,  171 


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